Battlefield energy: alternative power sources sought for remote bases.

• Author: Wagner, Breanne
• Position: TACTICAL POWER

Mobile generators that produce renewable energy are about to be fielded by the Army's Rapid Equipping Force in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Available from commercial suppliers, these technologies not only offer low-cost power, but may also cut the number of petroleum tanker convoys traveling dangerous roads in Southwest Asia.

While hybrid vehicle technology and fuel cell programs are still in research and development, new, more mature programs such as wind and solar powered generators are being touted as quick, mobile power solutions by the Army's Rapid Equipping Force.

U.S. commanders in Iraq have asked the Pentagon to come up with portable renewable energy sources, possibly in the form of wind turbines and solar power. They are seeking ways to cut back on the number of ground convoys that transport fuel into Iraq.

The director of the Rapid Equipping Force, Col. Greg Tubbs, asked a group of energy experts to find commercial products that can be deployable within 18 months and that will reduce fuel consumption by 40 percent.

"We want to do nothing to diminish mission capability, but rather decrease the fuel need," Dan Nolan, head of the effort at the REF, said at an Institute for Defense and Government Advancement tactical power conference.

The U.S. military relies heavily on fossil furl. The Defense Energy Supply Center said the military brought in a total of 1.29 million gallons of furl per day in Iraq. From Kuwait alone, U.S. troops bring in 890,000 gallons of fuel a day-across the southern border, Nolan told National Defense.

This massive fuel need became a dangerous liability when insurgents began targeting convoys coming from Kuwait, Jordan and Turkey. The result was an increase in improvised explosive device attacks against them. Attacks were as high as 30 per week.

"There has always been strategic importance on reducing dependence on energy we don't control ... but now there is a tactical importance," Nolan asserted.

The REF task force is focused on developing solutions for forward operating bases, or places where the U.S. military does not plan on having a permanent presence, Nolan said. This created a need to find small, transportable devices.

Skybuilt Power of Arlington, Va., is providing a mobile power station, which has been dubbed the transportable hybrid electric power station. The THEPS uses several different power sources, including a wind turbine, solar panels, a diesel generator and storage batteries. The system's diesel...