The military is turning to microgrids to fight global threats — and global warming

Source: Quil Lawrence | · NPR · | October 2, 2023

Source: Exterior of MCAS Miramar microgrid rooms in San Diego, California. Alan Nakkash for NPR

SAN DIEGO — Col. Thomas Bedell had been commanding Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar in San Diego for just one day, in July 2021, when he got a message from the base energy management director. The city power system was straining under a heatwave, and it was time to start up the microgrid.

"So I said, yes! Start up the microgrid! And then I texted, what is the microgrid?" Bedell recalled with a laugh.

It fell to Mick Wasco, who has been energy management director at Miramar since 2010, to explain to Bedell that Miramar was set up to run the base without using power from the city of San Diego in the case of a local or national power grid failure.

"By 2012, we started producing landfill gas electricity specifically for MCS Miramar," Wasco said, "Keep in mind, this is the size of a small city."

Using energy sources including solar and methane gas from the rotting garbage in a massive San Diego city landfill located inside the base, Miramar can go 21 days in a self-contained state that's called "island mode." Or as Col. Bedell says, aircraft carrier mode.

"I half-jokingly refer to Miramar as the USS Miramar. If you think about the installation as an aircraft carrier, suddenly the need to have redundant power to have energy-resilience, water, food-resilience makes complete sense," he said.