They say, ‘While we are doing this, can’t we use this to power our facility in case of an outage?’” says Anthony Colonnese, vice president of energy security solutions at Ameresco. “The desire to meet renewable energy goals turns a light on in people’s’ heads. Microgrids are resilient because they can “island,” that is, separate from the grid and operate autonomously during a natural disaster-think of Hurricane Harvey or Irma-or other emergencies, enabling the uninterrupted flow of power. But the advent of the modern microgrid has changed the way the military and the federal government approach reliability and sustainability. The military has long used backup generators and small, isolated, self-contained grids in remote locations to ensure operational integrity. By that same date, the DOD is also looking to reduce facility energy intensity by 37.5 percent and decrease non-combat greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent.Ĭoncerns about energy security are not new among the top military brass. Department of Defense (DOD) recognized its vulnerability to the flow of fossil fuels years ago and instituted programs to reduce its reliance on those fuels, often replacing them with cleaner and more sustainable sources of energy.Īcross all branches of the military, the DOD has a goal of meeting at least 20 percent of its demand with renewable resources by fiscal year 2020. Today’s military needs electricity for everything from logistics and communications to vehicle repair and field hospitals. Mission critical is a phrase almost synonymous with military operations, and in an increasingly electrified world, critical missions cannot be accomplished without electricity.
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