The department of energy's federal energy management program works with its stakeholders to enable federal agencies to meet energy-related goals, identify affordable solutions, facilitate…

The Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program awarded $8.1M under CFDA 81.117 (Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Information Dissemination, Outreach, Training and Technical Analysis/Assistance) to expand and deploy a 16-megawatt/60-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system (BESS) with microgrid and building automation controls at U.S. Air Force Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc, California. The award, obligated on August 1, 2025, with a completion date of July 31, 2027, funds the implementation of this energy storage solution under a utility energy service contract (UESC) structure.

The battery energy storage system will integrate with the existing 28-megawatt direct current solar photovoltaic system onsite to economically store and dispatch solar-generated electricity, thereby reducing curtailment penalties, minimizing utility grid purchases, and enhancing facility resilience against grid disruption. This energy conservation technology deployment directly supports federal facility energy efficiency goals and will generate measurable cost savings while maintaining mission assurance for the Air Force installation.

The department of energy's federal energy management program works with its stakeholders to enable federal agencies to meet energy-related goals, identify affordable solutions, facilitate public-private partnerships, and provide energy leadership to the country by identifying and leveraging government best practices. This assisting federal facilities with energy conservation technologies (affect) award funding will support the expansion of an existing project and deployment of a 16-MW/60-MWH battery energy storage system (bess) with microgrid controls and building automation controls upgrades under a utility energy service contract (uesc) at U.S. Air force vandenberg space force base (SFB). The bess will economically store electricity generated by an already onsite 28-mwdc solar photovoltaic (PV) system, discharging power to the base when advantageous, as well as providing needed resiliency and mission assurance in the face of grid disruption risks. This bess enabled strategy will increase the amount of PV system energy production, thereby reducing PPA curtailment and minimum take penalties, and reduce the amount of electricity purchased from the local utility grid, resulting in significant energy cost savings.