A group of companies, including a unit of the German engineering conglomerate Siemens AG, won the U.S. Defense Department’s biggest contract last month, a potential $7 billion deal for alternative energy.

The Army plans to buy the renewable energy from privately developed power plants, according to the May 7 announcement. The facilities are to be built, operated and maintained by companies under an agreement hailed by service officials as the first of its kind.

“This effort will lead to enhanced energy security and sustainability for our installations,” Col. Robert Ruch, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers center in Huntsville, Ala., which is overseeing the work, said in a statement.

The award topped a list of more than 250 contracts with a combined value of more than $23 billion in May, according to a Military​.com analysis of the Pentagon’s daily contract announcements. That figure is about 22 percent higher than the value from April and doesn’t reflect what is actually spent, or obligated, because many deals are only partially funded at first.

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