Will solar energy with energy storage replace generators in the US army?
A study conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the U.S. Department of Energy revealed that solar energy systems, when paired with long-duration energy storage (LDES), surpass military-grade emergency diesel generators (EDGs) in terms of both resilience and financial viability for military uses.
When utilizing standard military uptime evaluations, tests indicate that the likelihood of successful operation for solar power derived from long-duration energy storage (LDES) surpasses 95%, whereas the corresponding figure for diesel generators lingers at approximately 80%. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) presented these results in a report titled “Long-Duration Energy Storage: Resiliency for Military Installations.”
Advantages of the renewable energy system over aggregates
The examination indicates that when solar and energy storage systems are active during power outages, there is a probability of over 99% that they will continue operating post-incident, surpassing the performance of diesel generators in this aspect. Michael McGhee, the acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for environment and energy resiliency at the Department of Defense, notes that combining solar and long-duration energy storage (LDES) provides a straightforward method to generate energy without relying on supply chains beyond a military base.
The main limitations for solar energy with energy storage
As per the report’s authors, the primary challenge within the examined solutions lies in space constraints. Notably, at the Naval Air Base in Patuxent River, the limited space poses a significant obstacle, making the construction of a solar system integrated with energy storage financially demanding due to the need for substantial land investments. Nevertheless, it is crucial to highlight that the majority of American bases have adequate space to establish photovoltaic farms.
Source: pv-magazine-usa.com