Abstract
Most DoD operations, including maintenance, are dependent on a reliable energy source. But what happens when that energy source is interrupted? Energy resilience is the ability to avoid, prepare for, minimize, adapt to, and recover from anticipated and unanticipated energy disruptions in order to ensure energy availability and reliability sufficient to provide for mission assurance and readiness, including task critical assets and other mission essential operations related to readiness, and to execute or rapidly reestablish mission essential requirements. This forum will take a close look at how DoD entities are creating energy resilience on both installations and in expeditionary environments, and how these efforts balance flexibility, reliability, and resilience within a resource constrained environment, while keeping a clear focus on the single most important element: maintaining unit and equipment readiness.
Agenda
1300-1305: Welcome – Greg Kilchenstein (OSD-MR) Presentation
1305-1309: Administrative Notes – Debbie Lilu (NCMS)
1309-1330: Albany Energy Programs Update – Hubert Smigelski (USMC) Presentation
1330-1350: Alternate Energy Sources at Tooele AD. – Erin Trinchitella (Tooele AD) Presentation
1350-1420: Clean Mobile Energy Storage System – Tom Russell (USMC) Presentation
1420-1440: Smart Energy Hybrid Cube – Kevin Kowalik (HCI Energy) Presentation
1440-1500: Smart Grid – Frank Bohn (USARMY DEVCOM C5ISR Center) Presentation
- Tactical Microgrid Standard (TMS) • Hybrid Microgrid Effort
- Tactical Charging Station • Secure Tactical Advance Mobile Power
1500-1520: Hybrid Electric Vehicle Microgrids – Joe Heuvers (USARMY DEVCOM), Abul Masrur & Neng Piyabongkarn Presentation
1520-1530: Wrap-Up – Greg Kilchenstein (OSD-MR) Presentation
Minutes
Event: On 27 April 2021, the Joint Technology Exchange Group (JTEG), in coordination with the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), hosted a virtual forum on “Energy Resilience”.
Purpose: The purpose of this forum was to examine and share information on energy resilience capabilities available to the DoD maintenance community. The forum provided descriptions of energy production and storage capabilities employed by the military Services as well as programs from industry.
Welcome: Greg Kilchenstein (OSD-MR) welcomed everyone to the forum and thanked the presenters and all the listeners for their attendance. He also stated how important energy resilience is in supporting continuous sustainment operations and readiness in the DoD maintenance community and how its’ development within DoD has expanded.
Administrative: This was an open forum. The presentations, along with questions and answers, were conducted through Adobe Connect. Most of the presentations were available online at the JTEG website at http://jteg.ncms.org/ during the brief. A separate audio line was used. We had over 80 participants from across DOD, industry, and academia join in the forum.
Alternate Energy Sources at Tooele AD. – Erin Trinchitella (Tooele AD) described TEAD’s efforts and technology use to reduce energy and water consumption and become more energy independent. She discussed proven technologies to include wind turbines started in 2010, and the Energy Management Control System (EMCS) completed in February 2017, which combined, allow Allows TEAD to operate mission critical areas in the event of a power outage. She also described emerging energy technologies such as the Stirling solar array, and xeriscape installation to reduce water consumption. Future products include natural gas lines and fuel swapping as well as the installation of a photo voltaic solar array.
Albany Energy Programs Update – Hubert Smigelski (USMC) provided an update on MCLB Albany’s energy resiliency programs which will soon reach “net zero”. He described the partnership with Proctor & Gamble in the biomass plant which produces electricity from steam to meet the base’s needs. Technology includes landfill gas-to-energy generators, a photo voltaic array producing 44 MW of electricity, and diesel back-up generators. He then detailed how the installation energy system works during normal operations and when outages occur. He concluded with a few comments on the smart grid or microgrid.
Smart Energy Hybrid Cube – Kevin Kowalik (HCI Energy) provided a presentation on the Hybrid Cube which is a pre-packaged, turn-key mobile energy solution that provides power up to 100kw through the integration of battery, solar, wind, and generator components. Packaged in a 10 foot or 20 ft ISO container, the hybrid cube can be used for deployments and remotely operated through its zero-glitch power modules (ZPM). It is at TRL 9 and can be built within 45-150 days.
Clean Mobile Energy Storage System – Tom Russell / USMC described the mobile energy storage platform (MESP) to include the use, components, status. Composed of an ultralight tactical vehicle and trailers housing a bank of rechargeable Li6T batteries, the system can store and provide 28KWH of power on demand. The battery control system will allow the modular integration of batteries, plug and play of charged batteries, and be adaptable to new battery upgrades. The batteries will be charged by a high power generator native to the utility terrain vehicle (UTV) that serves as the prime mover. The USMC is purchasing two units in FY21 to support demonstrations.
Smart Grid – Frank Bohn (USARMY DEVCOM C5ISR Center) described four different capabilities that combine to form a secure tactical advanced mobile power that provides longer runtimes in distributed operations, increased operational reach and reduced logistics, and optimized energy storage platforms to enable C5ISR dominance. He provided details on the following technologies and the objectives of the joint capability technology demonstration (STAMP JCTD): 1) Tactical Microgrid Standard (TMS), 2) Hybrid Microgrid Effort, Tactical Charging Station, and 4) Microgrid Dashboard. All the technologies are TRL 7 or 8.
Hybrid Electric Vehicle Microgrids – Joe Heuvers (USARMY DEVCOM) discussed the mobility and reduced footprint advantages of vehicle to grid and vehicle to vehicle power sharing, and described current on-board vehicle power generation options. He reviewed a 2016 demonstration, described an FMTV vehicle centric micro grid architecture, and discussed the development of the DC ring bus controller and the universal power gateway. Chinmaya Patil briefly outlined a concept on “Model-Based Assessment of Fuel Economy and Performance of a Switchable P2/P3 Hybrid Powertrain for Heavy Truck”. The white paper is loaded on the JTEG website.
Q&A – A Q&A occurred after each briefer finished their presentation. Questions and answers will be posted on the JTEG website with these minutes.
Closing Comments: Greg Kilchenstein thanked the presenters for their contributions and all the work being done to support energy resilience efforts across the DoD, academia, and industry. He suggested continuing the information exchange beyond the forum and the importance of collaboration within the DoD maintenance community.
Action Items:
- Obtain copies of the presentations once they are approved to post to a public website, and post to the JTEG website at http://jteg.ncms.org/ .
Next JTEG Meeting: The next scheduled JTEG virtual forum is 25 May 2021, 1:00 – 3:00 pm EST. The topic is “Engine Erosion\Corrosion Coatings”.
POC this action is Ray Langlais, rlanglais@lmi.org, (571) 633-8019
Q&A
Alternate Energy Sources at Tooele AD. – Erin Trinchitella (Tooele AD)
Q1. Can you sketch out how you calculate dollar savings based on the investments being made?
A1. We take the blended cost of electricity each year based on prior fiscal year costs and looking at the KWs from each turbine, and add the credit generated.
Q2. Wind Turbine – break-even point? This looks like it would take 7 or 8 years to make the investment back, and that assumes no maintenance or down time. Is there an economic argument to implement this technology or is the motivation strictly clean energy?
A2. Both. We do a life-cycle cost analysis based on a 20-25 year life expectancy. The break-even point is affected by additional equipment, but my best guess would be approximately 10 years.
Q3. How limited is your maintenance capacity if you only have 1.5 MW available?
A3. Our primary mission is to upload ammunition, so the mission is not limited.
Q4. Have you done any analysis on the cost/benefit?
A4. See the answer to Q2 above and Q6 below.
Q5. What is xeriscape?
A5. We are located in Northern Utah in a desert environment. Xeriscape is a style of landscape design requiring little or no irrigation or other maintenance, used in arid regions. We no longer have to use water to maintain the grounds.
Q6. Have you done cost/benefit analysis on the solar and wind technologies?
A6. We have to do a cost / benefit analysis to receive funding.
Q7. What are the annual maintenance costs for the wind turbines?
A7. Annual maintenance costs through the contract are $50k. Taking it in-house should cut that in half.
Q8. Are there environmental impacts with the Wind Generation that have to routinely be surveyed? What is involved with those routine surveys i.e. bird surveys etc.?
A8. The environmental chief looked at the scope and performed an environmental assessment. He did have to look at migratory bird patterns.
Q9. How much downtime have you experienced with the wind turbines?
A9. I mentioned that one type was down for 4 years. It has been running since April 2020. The GE type runs continuously with small services performed twice a quarter.
Q10. Are you seeing much higher energy consumption because of COVID (due to HVAC, and increase of building change-over rate)? How does that affect the cost modeling?
A10. We are on the Army working capital fund and didn’t see a significant change.
Q11. Do you have a dedicated water supply or are you sharing water with others?
A11. We own our own water rights and have several wells.
Albany Energy Programs Update – Hubert Smigelski (USMC)
Q1. How does landfill gas get to the generator?
A1. We have “skid” motors over by the gas that pull gas from the ground over to the base
Q2. Does Georgia Power pay for the electricity (44MW) provided from your photovoltaic array?
A2. We receive in-kind consideration as payment for the lease of the land. Georgia Power provided us a second line into the base.
Smart Energy Hybrid Cube – Kevin Kowalik (HCI Energy)
Q1. How does the ZPM do frequency sync with outside sources, to include AC sources?
A1. We are able to use different sources of power but would only use one AC source at a time. The ZPM synchronizes the frequency and phase internally to whatever the end user needed (50 or 60 Hz). All DC sources of power would go directly on the DC Bus.
Q2. How mobile is the hybrid cube?
A2. It comes in a 20×8 or 10×8 standard ISO container. Whether commercial or OCONUS it can be picked up by a palletized loading system (PLS), rough terrain cargo handler (RTCH), or forklift.
Q3. Have you considered a trailer mounted version?
A3. A wheeled version is in the works now. The ZPM is the heart and soul, so the surrounding package can be changed.
Q4. You mentioned that your facility is hardened. Is your cube single or double wall? Do you have some attenuation specifications?
A4. There is a single metal wall designed to ISO standards and an insulated internal wall. No.
Clean Mobile Energy Storage System – Tom Russell / USMC
Q1. What is the output/input power, voltage, and frequency of the trailer?
A1. That is a question for Jason. The prime mover provides the output. The trailer has an input and then an output. The trailer supports NATO standard 24-volt electrical systems and 110-120V outlets. There are four different chargers for redundancy. Frequency is controllable and maintained at 60Hz. We use the hydraulics off the motor to power.
Q2. How do you deal with battery balancing if you pull out and reconfigure the batteries?
A2. Individually, it can handle a surge Amp of 400 nominally. The tray will tell you the status of each battery, whether full or pulled out. It will utilize other trays to keep power continuous.
Q3. Do you have electro-magnetic interference requirements?
A3. I don’t think we do as of yet.
Smart Grid – Frank Bohn (USARMY DEVCOM C5ISR Center)
No Questions
Hybrid Electric Vehicle Microgrids – Joe Heuvers (USARMY DEVCOM)
Q1. Can you discuss the transition of these capabilities to the soldiers and when they can expect to see these in the field beyond demonstration?
A1. We have a number of transition partners and are working with various PMs right now. Actively involved PMs include vehicle and power distribution.