Microgrid to demo resilient military-energy solutions
NewsMarch 07, 2017
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL -- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio) and the Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies (HCATT) have begun work at Pearl Harbor Base on the design of the Pacific Energy Assurance and Resiliency Laboratory (dubbed "PEARL"), a renewable-energy microgrid laboratory that is part of an ongoing effort to demonstrate new ways military facilities can address their energy needs in a cleaner and more cost-effective way. A microgrid is a small, independently sourced power system that -- while it remains attached to the main power grid -- can also work independently as needed without reliance on the main energy supply.
When operational, PEARL will allow researchers to evaluate renewable-energy generation, storage, and control technologies by demonstrating new ways of looking at hydrogen fuel cell, gasification/waste-to-energy, and wind-turbine technologies. The lab will also test new battery and photovoltaic systems, along with projects relating to military mission assurance and cybersecurity.
Under a cooperative agreement with AFRL, HCATT awarded a $1.5 million contract to begin initial design efforts on the PEARL project to Kansas City-based architect and engineering firm Burns & McDonnell.
AFRL program manager Kevin Spitzer says that microgrids such as PEARL support the Air Force’s goals of improving energy resiliency, optimizing demand, and assuring a steady energy supply. Microgrids can also help reduce use of fossil fuels, minimize solid waste, and lower the greenhouse-gas emissions generated during military operations. The PEARL project also lines up with Hawaii’s mandated transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2045.
