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    Solar and Storage Microgrid project underway at Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos

    May 27, 2022
    The Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos Microgrid will consist of 28 MW in solar photovoltaic capacity, a 20-MW/40-MWh energy storage system and a 3-MW diesel backup generator. The developer, Bright Canyon Energy, will build, own, and operate it
    Image credit U.S. Army
    Los Alamitos 6290e93434b2c

    The California National Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this month broke ceremonial ground on a 51-MW, 99-acre solar and storage microgrid project at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos.

    The microgrid is privately funded by the developer Bright Canyon Energy but also a vital part of the U.S. Army’s Climate Strategy to build a microgrid at every installation by 2035. Once operational, the hybrid project could island from the main grid and keep electricity running at the key base for 14 days, if needed, according to the report.

    “Army installations and their critical missions almost always rely on commercial utilities for energy and water,” reads a U.S. Army article on microgrids. “The increased frequency and magnitude of severe storms and grid outages, as well as the potential dangers of man-made threats, are forcing us to confront the greater risk of extended power and water disruptions. The need to be resilient is now.”

    The project is a collaboration with the California National Guard, Army National Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Army’s Office of Energy Initiatives (OEI), which serves as the military branch’s central program management for developing, implementing and overseeing privately financed, large-scale energy projects focused on resiliency, security and sustainability.

    The Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos Microgrid will consist of 28 MW in solar photovoltaic capacity, a 20-MW/40-MWh energy storage system and a 3-MW diesel backup generator. The developer, Bright Canyon Energy, will build, own, operate and maintain the infrastructure, according to the Army release.

    The facility is expected to become operational by summer 2023. Bright Canyon Energy can sell a percentage of excess generation into the San Diego Gas & Electric distribution system.

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    The OEI’s privately financed projects can utilize Real Estate Outgrants, usually in the form of leases and easements intended to enable private investment on Army land for commercial energy assets, according to reports.

    Joint Forces Base Los Alamitos in Orange County is a key staging ground for humanitarian operations. It also is the California National Guard’s primary training facility.

    The U.S. Army OEI currently has about 11 operational projects with 325 MW in generation capacity. Overall, Army energy projects through OEI include about $1.2 billion in private investment. 

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    (Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]).

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    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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