The military is leading the charge toward grid independence by turning to renewable energy — and not just solar and wind. Microturbines powered by natural gas, geothermal power plants and big batteries for storing electricity point to a future where buildings, and even cities, can generate as much power as they consume.
The concept is known as “net-zero” energy and is part of a push being led to a large degree by the U.S. military. The Army’s Net-Zero Initiative looks to take entire bases off the grid, or at least give them the ability to operate critical systems after a cyberattack or massive storm such as Hurricane Sandy.
Yet there are warning signs that doing so can be costly and impractical.
Scott Sklar, a long-time utility and energy expert, has been working with the Navy to move its facilities off the grid.
He said new off-the-shelf technologies, such as grid-enabled batteries, are giving military and commercial facilities the option of being self-sustaining without relying on the power company for electricity.
Sklar prefers to use the phrase “critical load-hardening,” as a more evolved characterization of grid independence. It means “allowing certain electric loads to function when there are outages,” which requires investing in onsite generation such as solar and having a battery backup system that can store electricity when the sun isn’t shining.
Experts say the move is critical for the military, which needs to keep its wartime operations going without interruption, notably drone operations that rely on electricity-dependent communications and information technology hardware.
Sklar designed the Washington Navy Yard’s net-zero energy building, which has battery power, so it can go off the grid. The Army is evaluating how it can do the same at 16 bases.
The Net-Zero Energy Coalition, representing builders, says the military isn’t the only one pushing forward on the concept. Residential and private-sector buildings are also making strides. This year, the group issued a study that showed 6,177 residential units in 3,330 buildings in the U.S. and Canada were net-zero or close.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Thursday that the market for the technologies is estimated to grow from $7 billion to $17 billion in the next four years.
“The United States being a leader here could help pay off significantly,” said Cantwell, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
She praised the Energy Department for proposing an $83 million increase in its fiscal 2017 budget request for developing advanced components for energy-efficient buildings.
“Why is this important? Well, we spend more than $400 billion each year to power our homes and commercial buildings in the United States,” she said. “That’s more than 40 percent of our nation’s total energy bill and comprises nearly 40 percent of the nation’s carbon pollution.”
Other grid architectures such as “micro grids” also have made it into the military’s and states’ vocabulary. Micro grids are a big focus for any facility, city or complex that is looking to stay afloat during major disturbances, like a Hurricane Katrina-size storm. Many East Coast cities are working with the Energy Department to set up micro grids as part of a push improving grid resilience.
“Overall, it’s a response to bad power quality, [and] surges that ruin digital equipment,” Sklar said. Internet dependency has meant “less of a tolerance for outages.”
The number of technologies available, primarily batteries, has soared. Backup batteries are now 40 percent cheaper than they were five years ago. And many companies are offering service plans and plug-and-play models that they can install and help maintain, Sklar said. The ability to make batteries a reliable, readily available commodity has been a game-changer, he said. It’s even a bigger development than the drop in the cost of solar panels.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told a Senate panel last week that the administration is seeking to double its spending on energy storage and batteries.
About a dozen companies now offer batteries for storage, including electric carmaker Tesla and energy giants such as Johnson Controls and Aquion.
But the push for a net-zero reality could be a bit bumpy. The Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm, issued a report in January saying that implementing the military’s mandate may be too costly and impractical.
“Service officials told us they believe that fully achieving net zero is unrealistic and ultimately cost prohibitive,” the watchdog said. But it also said the military branches invested in the policy are still plugging away at evaluating what it would take to make its net-zero goals a reality.
Critics point out that using solar with Tesla batteries, for example, would be more expensive than getting power from the commercial grid.
A blog posted in the fall by the Vanderbilt Law School’s Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law said “modern solar panels combined with a Tesla Powerwall could provide electricity for 30 cents per kWh. This is more than twice the average national electricity rate of 12.5 cents per kWh.
“Until solar panels become more efficient and can compete with traditional energy providers, the impact of these technologies will be limited,” the post reads.
But that doesn’t account for the spending bill that President Obama signed. The bill includes what is being called a historic five-year extension of the solar Investment Tax Credit and the wind Production Tax Credit.
The solar credit extension includes a storage provision, which the Internal Revenue Service is working with industry on fleshing out, said Katherine Hamilton, director of the Advanced Energy Management Alliance. She said the tax credits would help large commercial systems develop a backup system that incorporates solar and batteries.
The solar and wind tax credits would “offset” the cost if they were to adopt a net-zero policy.
Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, who has been on the cutting edge of the policies for years, said achieving a level of grid independence is doable.
“It is all-of-the-above. Consumers of all types and sizes are finding new and added value by taking control of their energy future through the adoption of advanced technologies like distributed solar systems and advanced controls,” he said in an email.
