U.S. strategic solar photovoltaic-powered microgrid deployment for enhanced national security

Abstract

The U.S. electrical grid, the largest and most complex man-made system in the world, is highly vulnerable to three types of external threats: 1) natural disasters, 2) intentional physical attacks, and 3) cyber-attacks. The technical community has recommended hardening the grid to make it more resilient to attack by using distributed generation and microgrids. Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are an ideal distributed generation technology to provide power for such microgrids. However, both the deployment velocity and the policy of how to implement such technical solutions have been given far less attention than would be normally considered adequate for a national security risk. To address this threat, this paper reviews the technical and economic viability of utilizing defense contracting for the beginning of a national transition to distributed generation in the U.S. First, the technical scale of electrical demand and the solar PV system necessary is analyzed in detail to meet the first level of strategic importance: the U.S. military. The results found that about 17GW of PV would be needed to fortify the U.S. military domestically. The current domestic geographic deployment of microgrid installations in the critical U.S. defense infrastructure were reviewed and compared to historical grid failures and existing and planned PV installations to mitigate that risk. The results showed a minimal number of military bases have introduced solar PV systems, leaving large parts of the Department of Defense electrical infrastructure vulnerable to attack. To rectify this situation, the technical skills of the top 20 U.S. defense contractors is reviewed and analyzed for a potential contracting transition to grid fortification. Overall the results indicate that a fortified U.S. military grid made up of PV-powered microgrids is technically feasible, within current contractors skill sets and economically viable. Policy recommendations are made to accelerate U.S. military grid fortification.

Policies to Overcome Barriers for Renewable Energy Distributed Generation: A Case Study of Utility Structure and Regulatory Regimes in Michigan

“…Distributed generation refers to technology that generates electricity at or near where it will be used [31][32][33]. DG has different scales and applications, including a residence [34,35], a business [31], or a larger system [36] operating as a microgrid for resilience or security [37]. Utility scale energy generation, by contrast, and regardless of energy source, involves much larger systems, which are often located further away from the site of use, which are owned and operated by or for utility needs first.…”

The impact of policy on microgrid economics: A review

“…Lastly, the similarities between the investment oriented papers also extends to the choice of simulation horizon, four of the references evaluate the obtained results over the course of one year. Zachar et al [13] additionally extrapolate the obtained simulation results to the expected lifetime of a microgrid of 20 years, while Yu et al [17] look at the entire 20 year expected life time of the considered microgrid.…”

“…While it may seem at first that microgrids are only attractive for electrifying off-grid communities, such as reported in [12], where microgrid designs are investigated for remote communities, there is most certainly a place for grid connected microgrids as well. Prehoda et al [13] consider PV-powered migrogrids as a vital tool to safeguard security of supply from natural disasters as well as electronical and physical attacks. Furthermore, Coelho et al [14], investigate microgrids as an important building block in the interconnected smart cities of the future.…”

Ensuring technical competency for management of research-focused organizations

“…However, the theories supporting politicized appointed bureaucrats demands that there is no harm (or at least the benefits outweigh the harm). In this case, where energy is such a critical infrastructure (Robinson, 2015) both for national security (Prehoda et al, 2017) and economic health (Stern, 2004) it is clear that the selection of the Secretary of Energy is important for the best interest of the nation. Even for less important bureaucracies it is important that the leadership understands the technologies for which they are making decisions.…”