Fort Leonard Wood, a U.S. Army training installation located in the Missouri Ozarks, is undertaking a project which includes a central power utility plant, emergency back-up generators and other infrastructure.
The construction also will include a 235,400 square-foot hospital, a 193,300 square-foot clinic, a five-bay ambulance garage, helipad and supporting facilities.
The energy initiatives already in place or underway at the installation are a Propane-Air Mixing Plant and the two combined heat and power plants. The Propane-Air Mixing Plant makes synthetic natural gas, which will come handy in the event of a natural gas failure or when natural gas prices are high.
“We were able to offset about 20 percent of our gas needs this way,” Installation Energy Manager Allen Simpson with the Directorate of Public Works, said. “This has been a tremendous asset; it’s a great resiliency piece on our part.”
Meanwhile, the DPW is also working on the installation of two combined heat and power plants, which will produce approximately 7% of the peak power demand at Fort Leonard Wood.
“The efficiency comes because we are capturing the heat that’s produced in that process and putting that heat into a boiler plant,” Simpson added. “So, we’re not having to buy that natural gas to heat the boilers. The natural gas offsets itself while we are able to produce our own electricity.”
Preparations are also underway to receive EVs for transitioning the facility’s non-tactical vehicles to a 100% zero-emission vehicle fleet by 2035. The plan will also include the installation of charging stations – one for every four to six vehicles.
