Details About The Army’s New Energy Initiatives Office Task Force

Posted on September 3rd, 2011 by Ben Lack
   

Assistant Secretary Katherine Hammack discusses the reasoning behind the development of the Army’s new Energy Initiatives Office Task Force.

Full Transcript:

 

Ben Lack:   Can you talk to me a little bit about why you guys felt the need to create the Energy Initiatives Office Task Force.
Katherine Hammack: Certainly, the Army installations have been investing in renewable energy on a decentralized basis, with distributed renewables. Those can be solar panels on the roof of a parking garage or on the roof of a barrack or parking shade. Maybe one or two wind turbines, or small-scale ground source heat pump systems.  We recognize that one of the challenges for a garrison is to get a very large-scale renewable project up and running. The garrison has a lot to focus on in running a city and to manage a large-scale renewable project from conception through design to installation is a very large project and it requires skills and resources that may not be available at a garrison level.With the centralized approach, we will be able to bring in the subject matter experts in finance in renewables, in technology, in contracting, that will be able to assist the garrison and work in concert to ensure that the project is able to come to fruition in a timely manner.
Ben Lack:  What’s been done to put together this centralized task force?  What does that really mean at the end of the day?  Is it just subject matter, expertise and labor?  Or is it also the acquisition of software programs for project management and other types of tools to help these garrisons move forward?
Katherine Hammack:  We will be developing and using tools to ensure that the projects are appropriately scoped, so that when we go to market we have a well thought out, both in concept and capability, project that has an environmental analysis done as well. One that is ready for a developer to bid on and is something that can be taken to the financial market.  The EIO Task Force is compromised of individuals with the expertise, but also the manpower to ensure that there is a focus on the project, so that it is complete and well thought out.
Ben Lack:  In the example of hiring a contractor to help with an installation or a project, do you also manage that RFP process?
Katherine Hammack:  Yes.  We will be working with the garrison on the RFP process.  We will be working on the selection of contracts.  We will be working on the contract vehicle, whether it’s an enhanced used-lease or power purchase agreement, and we will be working with them, hand-in-hand, all the way through.
Ben Lack:  This is part of a bigger goal to move the Army towards a more sustainable use for energy consumption.  The Army has a goal of producing 25% renewable energy by the year 2025.  How does putting together a task force like this help your team get to that goal faster?
Katherine Hammack:  Right now our installations have a focus on net-zero, to strive to meet net-zero energy, so that they consume the same amount of energy that they produce on an annual basis.  This is really to ensure that we’re able to maintain our mission focus in light of a vulnerable power grid. So, part of our net-zero program is focused on reducing the amount of energy and that is something that a lot of our garrisons have been doing for a while.  But, when you get to the next stage, which is a large-scale renewable energy project, a utility scale project, that takes a different skill set than is available at the garrison level. By centralizing we will be able to streamline business practices.  We will work with developers.  We will have the tools so the RFIs and RFPs are at an information level and have the appropriate data needed to be biddable and financeable.
Ben Lack:  As you guys are researching the different scopes for the projects that these garrisons are working on, how do you balance the variables of the cost savings that each project might potentially provide with the strategic advantage of having renewable power or an energy-efficient garrison available?  Some of this stuff can be cost-prohibitive in certain applications.
Katherine Hammack:  You’re absolutely right that cost-effectiveness is key to success of the program.  When we partner with the private sector, the private sector is focused on return on investment. If a project does not make financial sense for them, it won’t make financial sense for the Army either.  So, this ensures that we will be applying the appropriate technology in balance with the level of resources that are available with that geography or geology.  If there is geothermal energy available and we have done some borings in certain areas to determine what the pressure is, what the temperature is, and other technical details, then we will be able to go forward with geothermal in that area. But not every area has geothermal available- just like wind resources are not appropriate in every part of the United States nor are solar or biomass.
We have maps and we have done evaluations of the United States to determine where the best alternative energy resources are available.  We have looked at the cost of energy, and we have looked at needs of the installation. Our first several projects will be going forward to identify those balance points where we are able to achieve the best results for the Army.
Ben Lack:  Ms. Hammack, why are you interested in the energy issues for the Army?  And why have you chosen to spend your time working on these types of projects?
Katherine Hammack:  One of the biggest concerns that we have in the Army is the cost-effectiveness, but also mission effectiveness. If the Army does not have access to water and energy, we can’t do our primary mission, which is to serve and protect the citizens of the United States. So, we need to ensure that we have reliable access to energy that helps build our resilience against threats of man or threats of nature.  When we have more direct control of that energy, it enables us to assure that we can accomplish our primary mission.  One of the big reasons that we are investing in energy is to ensure that the mission can be accomplished.  At the same time, we need to make sure that we are doing it in a cost-effective manner because we’re facing declining budgets.  One of the advantages of renewable energy is that after your first cost, there are very low deminimus ongoing costs of operations. After you make that initial investment your rate of increase for renewable energy is much lower than the rate of increase in the cost of energy from fossil fuels.  We are all aware that fossil fuels have gone up in price.  We’ve seen that hit us in the gas tank.  We have seen the price-per-gallon of oil go up.  We have seen that in our contingency operations. The cost of fuel is certainly increasing our costs overall, so in order to be prudent stewards of taxpayer money, we need to ensure that we are appropriately managing our energy use and our energy supply.
Ben Lack:  Renewable energy gets a lot of the press because it’s a emerging technology and it’s clean and can be used forever, but energy efficiency tends to be overshadowed.  Many will make the argument that energy efficiency is the stopgap to finally moving to renewable energy projects.  Can you give me the argument on where energy efficiency plays in the role of responsible energy use for the Army?  And how will that role play with the task force?
Katherine Hammack:  We have a net-zero hierarchy and our net-zero hierarchy for energy starts with reducing the amount of energy you use.  The second step is re-purposing energy. That could be taking exhaust air from one building that is of a conditioned temperature and putting that into a building that does not need as much conditioning, or it could be taking thermal energy out of a wastewater stream and using that to precondition incoming water temperatures.  When you recycle energy, like that, and use it for alternate purposes, you are making the best use of your energy stream.  We’re spending a lot of time with our installations focused on the net-zero hierarchy of reduction, repurpose, recycling energy recovery. Really, renewable energy production is the last thing on the list.  So, we know in order to become net-zero, you first have to take as much of the energy or the BTU energy out of every waste stream as you can possibly do and then balance it with renewable energy. That is the appropriate stewardship of resources that the Army is looking to achieve.
Ben Lack:  Is there anything else that you want to mention before we let you go?
Katherine Hammack:  I just want to conclude that the reason that we are doing it is because it’s operationally necessary, it’s fiscally prudent, and its mission essential for us to make sure that we have energy security and can perform our primary mission for the United States.

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