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ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. -- The U.S. Army, led by the Project Manager for Mobile Electric Power, or PM MEP, is installing microgrid technologies in Afghanistan as part of a groundbreaking project that could significantly lower fossil fuel consumption on the battlefield.
The effort, which kicked off at a 2,400-man Force Provider complex in June, is the first attempt by the Department of Defense to evaluate microgrid technologies in an operational environment.
A microgrid consists of "smart" generators that link with one another to intelligently manage the power supply and operate at peak efficiency. Microgrids also enable the use of alternative energy sources and energy storage.
"We know this technology can save fuel and maintenance time for our deployed forces," said Brig. Gen. N. Lee S. Price, program executive officer for Command, Control and Communications - Tactical, or PEO C3T, the Army organization overseeing the initiative. "Through this project, we can obtain reliable data on these benefits -- and lay the groundwork for successful use of microgrids in theater."
Among the goals of the three-month experiment are to collect data on fuel and maintenance savings, identify the microgrid technologies with the highest potential for military use, familiarize Soldiers with the equipment''s functions and obtain a baseline cost analysis to support future installations. The Army Materiel Systems Analysis Agency, or AMSAA, will take the lead in gathering system and cost data.
Reducing demand for energy on the battlefield is viewed as a key military challenge by the DoD, which recently released its first-ever Operational Energy Strategy. The strategy will increase the energy efficiency of operations; limit the risks troops face as they use, transport and store energy; and minimize the amount of defense dollars spent consuming energy, officials said.
"The department will therefore take steps to improve the efficiency of our energy use, both through technological innovation and nonmateriel changes," said Sharon Burke, assistant secretary of defense for operational energy plans and programs, in unveiling the strategy. "This will range from more efficient engines on aircraft, ships and vehicles to lighter materials, to concepts of operation that conserve fuel. An important first step will be collecting better data and analysis on our actual energy use."
With dozens of initiatives already underway for different operational scenarios, the microgrid project targets a "gray area" that has not yet been addressed: an expeditionary camp that quickly grows in size and power consumption, officials said.
"They kept adding module after module, and they ended up with 96 separate generator sets," said Chris Bolton, lead engineer for PM MEP and one of the architects of the project. "The intent was to take a lot of the commercially available technology and state-of-the-art microgrid systems and apply it to that situation."
A 1-megawatt, or MW, microgrid will replace 22 of the complex''s generator sets with just four larger sets, simplifying maintenance as well as cutting fuel consumption, Bolton said. Another 180-kilowatt, or kW, microgrid configuration will not replace any of the remaining 74 generators, but will allow up to six of them to communicate and turn on and off in response to demand.
A key benefit of the smaller system -- which is part of the Army''s Hybrid Intelligent Power, referred to as HI Power, research and development program -- is modularity and scalability to different quantities of generators as a camp expands.
"As companies come in, or battalions and then brigades come in, this will demonstrate a way to hook all those systems up and make them more efficient as things grow," Bolton said. "This is an opportunity to advance the HI Power program and the smaller tactical side, which may be used for a command post, expeditionary camps, or things in between like hospital complexes and Force Provider complexes."
While the microgrids are potentially capable of supporting tactical communications equipment, they will not power any mission-critical command and control systems during the three-month testing phase, Bolton said.
"It''s (supporting) kitchens, laundries, latrines and sleeping tents," he said. "So if we do have power issues, we''re not shutting down radars or radios or anything like that."
To prove its readiness for a harsh Afghan summer, the 1 MW microgrid went through seven training rotations at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. in recent months. For more than 2,500 hours, it functioned reliably in environments ranging from 35 degrees to 117 degrees Fahrenheit, enduring thick dust and severe windstorms.
Along with the 1 MW and 180 kW microgrid, the Army is simultaneously evaluating several HI Power technologies that are still in the developmental stage but could have major implications for tactical use.
One initiative could prevent blackouts through a combination of energy storage mechanisms and intelligent controls, said Chris Wildmann, HI Power lead for the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, or RDECOM''s, communications-electronics center, or CERDEC. A grid with these features could anticipate an overload and better manage its environmental control units, which provide temperature regulation for Soldiers and systems but are a major consumer of fuel.
"If the temperature gets too high and the air conditioner needs to come on, it would actually put in a request to the controller to say, ''Hey, I''m going to come on. I need power. Is power available?''" Wildmann said. "And the controller would either say, ''No, don''t come on yet,'' or it would turn on another generator set."
In addition to increased reliability, the intelligent controls will also make future grids easier to set up than today''s power generation layouts, Wildmann said.
"They''re being designed so that a Soldier can just hook them up any way and plug things in and not have to worry about doing prior analysis of how the power grid should be laid out or what load should be placed where," he said. "The generators automatically talk to each other, recognize each other and can control each other without Soldier intervention."
Army researchers are also working on universal power converter boxes that would enable interoperability between power sources of all types -- a key concern in deployed environments, where troops often encounter a mix of military and commercial generators, utility power and renewable energy sources.
These capabilities await further testing and could be available for fielding by fiscal year 2013, Wildmann said. However, the microgrids now functioning in Afghanistan will provide a crucial baseline for "smart" power on the battlefield, officials said.
"The Afghanistan Microgrid Project is a key step toward reducing fossil fuel consumption in Afghanistan and for future operations," Price said.
Army.mil: Science and Technology News
STAND-TO!: Army Operational Energy Strategy
DoD Operational Energy Strategy
A new U.S. Army generator technology is saving fuel and lives in the rugged terrain of Afghanistan. Known as a microgrid, the technology links smart generators to provide the appropriate amount of power when it is needed.
A 1-megawatt system already has been deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan, where it has replaced several generators and is conserving fuel while providing uninterrupted power to its users. Fuel saved translates to potential lives saved, as convoys carrying fuel to U.S. Afghanistan outposts have come under increasing fire from Taliban guerillas.
The microgrid effectively is a smart generator network that adds power during peak usage times and cuts back when demand is low. The microgrid deployed to Bagram in August consists of four generators—one 410-kilowatt unit, two 275-kilowatt units and one 225-kilowatt unit. Generators are turned on or off depending on usage. This avoids the conventional approach in which spot generators run incessantly until they run out of fuel or need service.
The microgrid''s effectiveness and reliability have led Army officials to look at extending its use into 2012, reports Col. Brian P. Cummings, USA, project manager for Mobile Electric Power, the Army office in charge of the microgrid effort. This project office actually is chartered by the Defense Department, and the microgrid effort was initiated under the direction of the assistant secretary of defense for operational energy plans and programs.
The microgrid was deployed to replace 19 60-kilowatt tactical generators that were providing spot power generation in Bagram. The microgrid has replaced 13 of those 19 generators, with the only limitation of replacing those final three generators coming from the distribution grid. Engineers are working to upgrade that grid so that the microgrid could replace as many as 24 conventional generators, says Paul Richard, deputy project manager for Mobile Electric Power.
Data collected by the Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity over an 11-day period last summer indicated a fuel savings of as much as 16 percent. When the microgrid expands to cover the full 19 generators, that number should rise to as much as 25 to 30 percent savings, Richard notes. Similarly, the microgrid realized savings of 84 percent in maintenance human hours. Richard adds that the microgrid saved 73 hours of down time during which elements of the base would have had to do without power because of spot maintenance or refueling.
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