Microgrid developer Ameresco has awarded Hannah Solar Government Services the contract to install a $21.6 million military microgrid at the US Army Garrison Fort Hunter Liggett in Jolon, California.
After breaking ground on the project in late May, Ameresco is accelerating the development of the microgrid designed to improve electrical resilience, efficiency and affordability within the 165,000-acre training center.
The microgrid will play a critical role in the Army base’s plan to achieve net-zero energy use by 2022, and the project will be completed following previous sustainability efforts such as energy-efficient replacements of the base’s furnaces, lighting and other equipment.
In total, Hannah Solar will install a renewable energy military microgrid that includes 3.75 MW of solar energy generation paired with 5 MWh of battery storage capacity.
Designed for resilience, the military microgrid will be able to seamlessly separate its solar and storage components from utility power with continued independent operation during electrical outages in the area. The microgrid will give Fort Hunter Liggett the capability to generate and distribute electricity independently from the grid for at least 14 continuous days.
To accommodate the new installation into the base’s existing systems, Hannah Solar will also perform the necessary electric upgrades.
A few years in the making, Ameresco and Hannah Solar’s partnership will fulfill Fort Hunter Liggett’s microgrid request for proposals officially issued in 2018.
Based in Summerville, South Carolina, Hannah Solar Government Services is a disabled veteran-owned small business that designs, builds and maintains renewable energy systems.
Ameresco has several military-related projects underway, among them a Marine Corps microgrid in South Carolina, a floating solar microgrid offshore at Fort Bragg, and another large microgrid installation in a Portsmouth, Maine, naval shipyard.
Beyond the Fort Hunter Liggett project, the company is also currently conducting research into the capabilities of vanadium flow batteries at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado.
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