Energy Surety for Mission Readiness (microgrids) (PDF)
By David Menicucci, Roch Ducey, and Paul Volkman, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Increased energy security and decreased dependence on fossil fuels are two major objectives of the new Army Energy Strategy for Installations. Both goals suggest that the Army consider diversifying its current use of the local electric utility for primary power and engine-driven generators for emergency back-up power. They also call for including renewable energy systems such as wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass, and other advanced distributed generation (DG) technologies such as fuel cells and microturbines. Increased energy reliability and security and, therefore, enhanced mission readiness, can be achieved by networking these power systems together in an “intelligent” microgrid. This concept is built on the philosophy that, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
To assess the microgrid’s potential for Army use, the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is working with ACSIM, HQ-IMA, and the Research and Development Engineering Command (RDECOM). ERDC is investigating how the energy surety microgrid concept can be implemented, not only at the installation and remote training facility level, but at forward base camps, tactical operation centers, and Soldier power — in other words, “home station to foxhole.”
(July 2006; hat-tip to peakoil.com)
Listed at the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory website..
cecer.army.mil |
