The US Army is not particularly shy about adopting the latest high-tech gadgets, and renewable energy is a case in point. Despite all the fossil friendly rhetoric emanating from the White House, the Army is still pursuing microgrids with renewable solar energy to improve operations and cut costs at its domestic bases here in the US and at forward operating bases overseas, too.

That’s improving operations as compared to relying on diesel generators for back-up power and transportable power generation, by the way.

The latest development in the forward operating base category is a new contract with the microgrid company Go Electric, to develop a “portable, modular, self-forming microgrid solution” that can withstand whatever punishment the US Africa Command can dish out while maximizing fuel efficiently and improving reliability over diesel generators. Sounds like magic, right?

The Return Of The SPIDERS Microgrid

Well, it’s not magic. Just a lot of elbow grease and years of R&D.

If the name Go Electric rings any bells, you may be thinking of the company’s role in the cutting edge SPIDERS microgrid project.

SPIDERS stands for Smart Power Infrastructure Demonstration for Energy Reliability and Security. It’s a three-phase, $30 million project under the umbrella of the US Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories. The aim is to deploy microgrids with renewable energy as a more efficient, more reliable, and more secure replacement for conventional diesel generators.

Source: The military is cutting its dangerous dependence on diesel – with solar power and microgrids | Red, Green, and Blue