CONVERT EVERY U.S. MILITARY BASE TO INDEPENDENT
MICROGRIDS, A LOCAL SYSTEM OF DISTRIBUTED
ENERGY RESOURCES AND ELECTRICAL LOADS
"The U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) fixed installations are the backbone of American military readiness. Although U.S. military bases have long supported the maintenance and deployment of weapons systems and the training and mobilization of combat forces, increasingly, they provide direct support for combat operations and serve as staging platforms for humanitarian and homeland defense missions. Energy is the lifeblood of military bases: in FY 2015, DoD’s fixed installations, which contain 284,000 buildings and 2 billion square feet of space, consumed 1 percent of the total electric energy consumed in the United States, at a cost of almost $4 billion.
The military’s use of installation energy entails risk as well as cost. Installations are dependent on a commercial grid that is vulnerable to disruption due to aging infrastructure, severe weather, and physical and cyberattacks. Major power outages are growing in number and severity in the United States, and military bases experience more and longer duration outages than typical utility customers because many bases are located in outlying areas."
– Power Begins at Home: Assured Energy for U.S. Military Bases
The Pew Charitable Trusts – an independent nonprofit organization that uses evidence-based, non-partisan analysis to solve today's challenges – commissioned a report in 2017 called Power Begins at Home: Assured Energy for U.S. Military Bases. Read the entire report here. The report outlines the challenges of our military's energy security, the current strategy, alternative strategies, the role of renewables, cost comparisons, energy efficiency versus security, and implementation issues. It is really a fascinating read!
The report concludes: "Military bases require large volumes of electricity to execute their critical missions, but their reliance on the commercial grid and a decades-old backup power paradigm can put their critical missions at risk. Already, DoD experiences multi-day power outages and pays a high cost for these outages in dollars and mission risk. The triggers for outages severe-weather, physical terrorism, and cyber-attacks – are only expected to increase in the near future. Against that backdrop, some bases are moving towards more advanced energy security solutions. Instead of solely relying on the existing paradigm of having one standalone generator tied to each building with a critical load, they are putting in place the building blocks of smart microgrids. They are making that move because they are able to achieve “triple play” benefits – more energy security and independence from the commercial grid, lower power costs, and an enhanced ability to integrate renewable energy. This reflects a real change in DoD’s approach to energy security. That change is enabled by improvements in technology cost and performance. This alternative to longstanding energy practice is finally viable, at DoD and in other commercial settings.
Microgrids, even in the relatively simple configurations modeled in this report, can outperform the existing standalone generator paradigm on each of five non-cost energy security criteria and can do so at a materially lower lifetime cost of ownership. Over their 20-year lifetimes on a net cost basis, an all-diesel microgrid can save large military installations from $8 to $20 million in energy security spending. The savings within that range are dependent on the region of the U.S. – savings are greatest in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic and lower in the Southeast and California in our analysis of the all-diesel microgrid. Further savings are possible in California by integrating natural gas generators with diesel generators. In that case, it is possible to achieve better energy security and have it yield a positive revenue (not just lower costs) compared to today’s backup power paradigm.
There are no technical or financial barriers to the implementation of microgrids on military bases. A Service that wants to take advantage of a microgrid faces a choice as to whether to be an owner/operator, or to purchase the stream of benefits as a service from a private entity that owns and operates the microgrid. Buying microgrid services is the preferred alternative and allows for the Services to benefit from third party financing by avoiding capital outlays and putting performance incentives and operational responsibilities on firms that are experts in managing such systems.
Energy efficiency can enhance the energy security of a military installation. When a base reduces its critical power needs through energy conservation and efficiency, its energy security costs drop proportionately. To date, the Services have made only limited progress when it comes to energy efficiency, and they are leaving $1 billion a year of outright energy cost savings (25 percent of its $4 billion-a-year utility bill) on the table and paying additional costs for the security of loads that would otherwise be much lower. While renewable energy can certainly enhance energy security, the current cost of energy storage (e.g., large-scale batteries) means that intermittent sources of renewable energy (wind and solar) cannot yet cost effectively provide the primary source of energy security for critical loads. Our analysis demonstrates that microgrids provide more energy security for less money than the Services are currently paying for standalone generators. The Services do not need to pay a premium for energy security. From a business perspective, DoD is currently underinsuring many non-critical loads on its military bases, including its R&D laboratories, industrial facilities, and many other important functions, and paying more for critical load insurance than need be."
Evidence:
Pew Charitable Trusts. "About the Pew Charitable Trusts." 26 June 2018
Jeffrey Marqusee, Craig Schultz and Dorothy Robyn. "Power Begins at Home: Assured Energy for U.S. Military Bases." Commissioned by The Pew
Charitable Trusts. 12 Jan 2017