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Department of Defense

Microgrids: How the Military Connection Advances the Technology

Microgrids: How the Military Connection Advances the Technology

written by CleanTechies.com Contributor

When you think about it, the military’s interest in microgrid technology makes sense: With its need for facilities to stay powered all day every day, getting off the grid is critical.

“Microgrids provide the military with energy security and reliability 24-7 and 365 days a year. They need power if the entire world disappears around them,” says John Carroll, business development director for Intelligent Power & Energy Research Corporation (IPERC), a New York-based company that manufactures microgrid controls and is a contractor for installations on four bases.

The military isn’t the only organization that thinks the Navy, Army and other arms of the government need to get into microgrids and renewable energy. The Department of Defense recently published a report, “Quadrennial Defense Review,” an assessment of U.S. defense readiness, which focuses on the growing threat that climate change poses to military capabilities and global operations. In addition, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report says that we’ll be seeing more and more extreme weather across the globe.

Given all these pressures, Carroll predicts that the market for microgrids in the military is in the tens of billions of dollars. “The total available market is huge,” he says.

What’s more, the military’s interest in microgrids is fueling the interest of municipalities and utilities.

“The military is the technology leader. Every utility is looking at the Department of Defense for how they are deploying microgrids. At conferences all over the country, utilities and municipalities are coming together to understand what the military has been doing,” he says. “The military is absolutely the leader.”

Microgrid Military Potential

The military microgrid market will produce more than 54.8 MW of capacity by 2018, according to a report from Red Mountain Insights, “Military Microgrids Market Potential.” More than 40 US military bases have microgrids in operation or are planning or studying them. Afghanistan, in particular, needs efficient, mobile microgrids. The Department of Defense moves about 50 million gallons of fuel monthly in Afghanistan, much of it power more than 15,000 generators, according to the report.

IPERC, which has been in the microgrid business for 10 years, sees all this as good news for its company. However, says Carroll, funding the installations is a major challenge. The four base installations were funded by the Smart Power Infrastructure Demonstration for Energy Reliability and Security, a Department of Defense program.

“That program will end this time next year. The next step: It will be up to individual bases and their budgets, or private partnerships and state grants. It will become a collage of money sources.”

A collage of issues have come together to create the need for the military to embrace microgrids. Will the collage of funding sources help fill the need?

Article by Lisa Cohn, published under a cross licensing agreement with EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com



April 29, 2014 0 comment
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Defense Authorization Act Lifts Ban on LEED Gold and Platinum

written by Walter Wang

President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2014 in Honolulu last Thursday and while most observers noted that the bill cracks down on sexual assaults in the military and eases restrictions on transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay, the bill also is a huge win for the U.S. Green Building

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December 31, 2013 0 comment
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Federal Green Building Code Creates Unnecessary Risks and Costs

written by Walter Wang

Someone recently asked me why I was baffled about the Department of Defense’s decision to use both LEED and a green building code. Here are two reasons:

1. The policy is a waste of taxpayer money.

2. The policy unnecessarily increases risks for government contractors.

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May 21, 2012 0 comment
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Not April Fool’s: Defense Department to Adopt Green Code and LEED

written by Walter Wang

In last week’s post, I stated that the Army was abandoning LEED certification in lieu of a green building code based on ASHRAE 189.1. But it is now clear to me that I misinterpreted the testimony of Dr. Dorothy Robyn, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense.

Instead, the Department of Defense is going to

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April 3, 2012 0 comment
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Military Could Lead in Commercializing Clean Transportation

written by Walter Wang

The Department of Energy (DOE) loan program aimed at commercializing clean transportation technologies has been taking hits from all sides recently. Loan recipients such as Fisker Automotive and Ener1, who have either had problems meeting deadlines or gone into bankruptcy, have become targets of opponents of subsidies for clean

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March 28, 2012 1 comment
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DOD Budgeting Rules May Impede Green Building

written by Walter Wang

In April 2010, the Department of Defense (“DOD”) issued a memorandum (“memo”) that altered the structure of the defense budgeting cycle, beginning with fiscal year (“FY”) 2012 budget. These changes were ostensibly made to offer more stability to the budgeting process, which prior to the memo involved a more complicated two-year budgeting

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January 22, 2012 0 comment
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Congress Requires Department of Defense to Perform Cost Benefit Analysis

written by Walter Wang

Many people, including me, have noted that the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”), signed into law by President Obama on December 31, 2011, prohibits the Department of Defense (“DoD”) from using any appropriated funds to achieve the two highest levels of green building certification offered by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and

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January 5, 2012 1 comment
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Congress Restricts LEED Spending

written by Walter Wang

It was a rough year for Congress. The Republican and Democrats, the House and Senate — no one could seem to agree.

Unless we are talking about green buildings.

In June, I reported on the Department of Defense Reauthorization bill that passed the House of Representatives. In the legislation, the Department of

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January 4, 2012 0 comment
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Pentagon Leads Development of Microgrids

written by Walter Wang

In the past, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has played a remarkably consistent role in commercializing new technologies that provide tremendous social benefits within the larger civilian realm. The Internet, created by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in 1969, is perhaps the best-known DOD

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September 27, 2011 0 comment
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Conserving our Resources, Securing our Forces

written by Walter Wang

Across the federal government, and certainly in the Department of Defense, we know that after a decade of war we're entering a new era of smaller, tighter, leaner budgets.

One of the areas we can look to save is on energy – whether by conserving existing resources or

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August 11, 2011 0 comment
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National Security and Fuels of the Future: The Importance of Sec. 526

written by Walter Wang

Last week, a team from the Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Command in Warren, MI parked a unique vehicle in the Pentagon courtyard. Dubbed the Fuel Efficiency Demonstrator-Alpha (FED-Alpha), the vehicle has all the capability of an up-armored M1114 Humvee, but with modifications that can improve fuel economy by 70%.

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July 17, 2011 0 comment
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Hooah For Hybrids: 9 Ways the Military Is Curbing Energy Use

written by Walter Wang

The mission: defeat the enemy while preserving Uncle Sam’s pocketbook. Saving the Earth is a worthy, but secondary, objective.

The Department of Defense last week rolled out its plan to consume less, and find new ways to source, energy. The need has become particularly pressing as operations in Afghanistan and Iraq last year led

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June 21, 2011 1 comment
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Energy for the War Fighter: The Department of Defense Operational Energy Strategy

written by Walter Wang

Seven years ago, after leading the initial campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, General James Mattis, now the commander of U.S. Central Command, called on the Department of Defense to “unleash us from the tether of fuel.”

Just last week on June 7th, General David Petraeus,

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June 15, 2011 1 comment
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New Fuel Cell Reforming Technologies for the U.S. Military

written by Walter Wang

Fuel cell manufacturers and OEMs continue to benefit from an increased military emphasis on energy security and logistical efficiency associated with the complex and challenging operational conditions being encountered in remote wartime environments such as Afghanistan. Reducing the strategic and tactical vulnerabilities associated with powering military

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May 30, 2011 0 comment
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