Corps awards $21.6M contract for Fort Hunter Liggett microgrid

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District
Published April 23, 2019

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District awarded a $21.6 million construction contract April 12 to Ameresco of Framingham, Massachusetts to construct an electrical distribution microgird and 5 megawatt photovoltaic power generation at Fort Hunter Liggett. Ameresco is expected to break ground this spring and complete the project in 2021.

When combined with a smaller system already in use, the reserve Army training base will have eight megawatts of self-generated electricity.

“That’s a significant amount of power that is projected to get Fort Hunter Liggett to its goal of ‘net zero’ energy use,” said Adam Rauch, the Sacramento District project manager who has overseen the project for the past four years.

Engineers designed the new system with automated switches in buildings so facility managers can easily and efficiently control energy intake.

Rauch said the improved system will be a big leap toward reaching the Army’s goal of making the remote Central California base more energy secure by separating it from more vulnerable external systems. What’s more, the addition of the system’s substantial photovoltaic generation and batteries will enable the base to generate as much energy as it uses, thereby attaining “net zero” status.

This is the largest single-awarded contract for the Army’s Energy Resiliency and Conservation Investment Program (ERCIP) in more than four years.

Fort Hunter Liggett is U.S. Army Reserve's largest training installation, and its 165,000 acres is utilized by the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, National Guard, and Coast Guard units.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District provides planning, engineering, project management, environmental restoration and construction services to military and civilian customers in parts of eight western states, including California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming.


Contact
Ken Wright
(916) 557-7740
(916) 642-6870 (cell)
kenneth.d.wright@usace.army.mil
1325 J Street

Release no. 19-005