Microgrid
ProjectsSubmit a project

Home / Directory / Miramar Microgrid | Marine Base Military Microgrid

North America / Defense

Miramar Microgrid | Marine Base Military Microgrid

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations13
System facts22
Sources reviewed9
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

MCAS Miramar's installation-wide microgrid is a 12 kV system serving more than 100 flight-line and support buildings—about 60% of base load—not every load on the installation. Its current documented portfolio is 3.2 MW landfill gas, 6.45 MW of new Tier 4 diesel/natural-gas generation, roughly 1.3–1.9 MW solar depending source/date, a separate 2 MW emergency diesel, and a 1.5 MW/3.3 MWh grid-forming lithium-ion BESS commissioned in November 2024. A separate earlier 230 kW PV/250 kW zinc-bromine flow-battery project at the Public Works building must not be merged into the base-wide BESS.

Research status
The base-wide microgrid was completed in 2020 and publicly demonstrated in March 2021. It has performed more than 17 base-wide outage tests by 2023 and supported SDG&E during regional heat events. The new 1.5 MW/3.3 MWh BESS completed commissioning with a 5.5-hour black-start/island test on November 16, 2024 and then accumulated 12 continuous operating months through 2025. A May 2026 CEC final report confirms the integrated system operational and documents measured savings.
Historical classification
Community
Reported capacity
24,400 kW
Coordinates
32.87463, -117.13991
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Miramar Microgrid | Marine Base Military Microgrid?

13 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

Black & Veatch

Joint EPC/design, construction, operations, and commissioning partner selected with Schneider in 2016. [4][5]

Organization

California Energy Commission

EPIC funder of the 2024 battery demonstration and publisher of the 2026 final report. [2]

Organization

Dynalectric

Electrical construction/subcontract support for the BESS project. [2]

Organization

Fortistar

Third-party landfill-gas generation owner/operator using gas from the City of San Diego landfill. [3]

Organization

National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL)

Technical analysis, controls/performance research, and coauthor of the CEC final report; NREL also supported the original 2011 concept. [2][4]

Organization

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC)

Federal facilities engineering/procurement organization for the base-wide system. [4][5]

Organization

Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific

Cooperative research-and-development partner for the battery/control demonstration. [2]

Organization

NREL

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

Raytheon Corporation

Publicly named participant; role not specified in the recovered record [1]

Organization

San Diego Gas & Electric

Serving utility, interconnection partner, and recipient of grid-support dispatch during heat events. [3][6]

Organization

Schneider Electric

Joint system integrator, supervisory-control supplier, and designer/installer of the 2024 BESS. [4][5][2]

Organization

United States Marine Corps / MCAS Miramar

Installation owner, host, and operator of the microgrid and Energy and Water Operations Center. [2][6]

Organization

University of California San Diego

CEC awardee and research lead for the BESS project. [2]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
8000 [1]
KW Gas/Diesel
16400 [1]
Storage
NA [1]
Critical-load coverage
More than 100 flight-line and support buildings, approximately 60% of installation load. CEC reports about 15 MW peak net load and 4.2 MW median; older promotional wording that it powers the 'entire base' overstates the served scope. [2][5]
Landfill-gas generation
3.2 MW from 2 x 1.6 MW third-party generators on a dedicated 12 kV connection. [2][3]
Prime generation plant
6.45 MW final documented total: approximately 3.6 MW Tier 4 diesel plus 2.8 MW natural gas across four prime units. Earlier design pages round this to 4 MW diesel + 3 MW gas. [2][4]
Solar capacity
CEC's 2026 report uses 1.3 MW existing solar; EPA reports 1.8 MW and 2025 DOE slides show 1.9 MW. These likely reflect differing inclusion dates/scopes and are retained rather than collapsed into one false precision. [2][3][8]
New battery
1.5 MW/3.3 MWh lithium-ion BESS, approximately 2.2 hours at rated output; 3 x 500 kW/1,100 kWh ELM MG500 units. [2]
Additional emergency generation
2 MW emergency diesel generator with paralleling switchgear, labeled the B7777 generator in the 2025 DOE configuration. [2][8]
Renewable share
Latest CEC analysis says landfill gas plus solar supplies approximately 52% of microgrid energy needs; EPA describes approximately 50%. This is the best documented operating mix and is not a claim of zero-carbon generation because landfill gas accounting and diesel/gas backup remain material. [2][3]
Measured BESS economics
CEC reports US$258,268 demand-charge savings for calendar 2025, more than US$21,000/month. The report gives 917 kW average monthly demand reduction in one section and 962 kW elsewhere; capital cost was US$3,249,933, simple payback about 13 years, and projected 20-year NPV US$322,451. [2]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Battery energy storage

ELM — MG500

Three paralleled grid-forming packages, each 500 kW/1,100 kWh, for 1.5 MW/3.3 MWh total. [2]

02

Microgrid supervisory control

Schneider Electric — EcoStruxure OASyS SCADA

Integrates PCS/DER controls, AGC, unit commitment/economic dispatch, renewable and load forecasts, tariffs, islanding, black start, and reconnection. [2][4]

03

Metering

Model not publicly disclosed

More than 230 advanced meters feed the Energy and Water Operations Center and control platform. [4]

04

Electrical distribution

Model not publicly disclosed

480 V and 12 kV switchgear within a 12 kV base microgrid. [4][2]

05

Earlier building-scale battery

Model not publicly disclosed

Separate Public Works demonstration used a 250 kW zinc-bromine flow battery with titanium electrodes and 230 kW PV; storage energy rating was not established in the DOE page. [7]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • BESS response

    Battery ramp rate is approximately 1 MW/s and reaches full 1.5 MW in about 1.5 seconds, versus roughly 182 kW/s for diesel (about 10 seconds) and 7 kW/s for natural gas (about 3 minutes). [2]

  • Operating modes

    Grid-connected P/Q and power-factor modes; island generator-following P/Q and Hz-Watts; grid-forming voltage/frequency and UPS-like modes. [2]

  • Landfill-gas contingency

    Fuel-quality interruptions can abruptly remove 1.6–3.2 MW of landfill-gas output. The BESS supplies ride-through and now permits both landfill-gas generators to operate while islanded, whereas only one was allowed previously. [2]

  • Operational evidence

    The first full Energy Resilience Readiness Exercise included a day-long utility outage; SDG&E requested dispatch during 2020–2022 heat events, including output roughly equivalent to 3,000 homes during the August 17 event reported by USMC. [5][6][3]

  • Phase boundary

    The DOE Public Works 230 kW PV/250 kW flow-battery pilot is a discrete building-scale research system. It should not be added to the later 1.5 MW/3.3 MWh base-wide BESS without a source proving both remain simultaneously active and inside the same accounting boundary. [7][2]

  • Future versus installed

    DOE's 2025 slides separately depict future targets of 4.8 MW landfill gas, 3 MW PV, and 3 MW/6 MWh storage; those are not commissioned nameplate values in this record. [8]

Provenance

9 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2021-04-20

  2. [2]
    Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Battery Energy Storage System

    California Energy Commission · Primary source

  3. [3]
    Generate LFG Electricity for Microgrid

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · Primary source

  4. [4]
  5. [5]
  6. [6]
    MCAS Miramar Micro Grid Aids Local Community

    U.S. Marine Corps · Primary source

  7. [7]
    Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar

    U.S. Department of Energy · Primary source

  8. [8]
    FEMP Summer Camp 2025: MCAS Miramar Microgrid Slides

    U.S. Department of Energy · Primary source

  9. [9]
    Miramar Microgrid (archived project page)

    MicrogridProjects.com via Internet Archive · Archived source

Continue exploring

Related projects in North America