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Camp Smith Microgrid

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

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations12
System facts17
Sources reviewed10
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Camp H.M. Smith in Hawaii was the third and most installation-wide phase of the DoD/DOE/DHS SPIDERS demonstration. Completed in late 2015, it integrated the base's utility service, four new Tier 4 interim diesel generators, selected existing generators, a 300 kW photovoltaic array, strategically placed battery storage, secure supervisory controls, and fast-transfer power electronics to sustain critical Pacific Command loads.

Research status
SPIDERS Phase III completed and successfully demonstrated in late 2015. Marine Corps Base Hawaii still lists the Camp Smith micro-grid as an energy innovation, but no public Camp Smith-specific operating or performance data through 2026 were found.
Historical classification
Military
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
21.38526, -157.90952
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 Camp Smith Microgrid?

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

Organization

Go Electric

Supplier of the instantaneous synchronization/islanding module used for sub-cycle transfer and generator synchronization [6]

Organization

Go Electric, Inc.

Integrated storage and inverter module supplier [2]

Organization

Hawaiian Electric Company

Serving utility and coordination partner for grid-parallel and island transition requirements [6]

Organization

Intelligent Power & Energy Research Corporation

Lead developer of the GridMaster microgrid controls, communications, and cybersecurity platform [6][8]

Organization

IPERC

Cyber-secure distributed microgrid control supplier [2][3]

Organization

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command

Navy facilities partner responsible for transitioning the capability at Camp Smith [6][9]

Organization

Sandia National Laboratories

Microgrid design, systems engineering, and cybersecurity partner [6][9]

Organization

U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory

Technical manager for the SPIDERS joint capability demonstration [6]

Organization

U.S. Department of Defense

SPIDERS sponsor and transition customer [6]

Organization

U.S. Department of Energy

SPIDERS sponsor and technical-program partner [6]

Organization

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

SPIDERS co-sponsor focused on cybersecure critical infrastructure [6]

Organization

U.S. Pacific Command

Camp H.M. Smith host and mission operator for the installation-wide Phase III demonstration [6][8]

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.

Microgrid scale
Base-wide, 5.3 MW-class system [2]
Distribution infrastructure
New utility-grade generation plus existing generators, solar, stationary storage, and SCADA/PLC assets [2]
Installation scale
Approximately 5 MW class, covering essentially the whole Camp H.M. Smith installation because critical loads dominated base demand [9][6]
Existing photovoltaic capacity
300 kW [7]
New dispatchable generation
Four Tier 4 interim stationary prime diesel generators; individual and aggregate ratings were not published in the reviewed sources [7][6]
Battery storage
Strategically located storage supporting instantaneous transition, power quality, peak management, and generator start; public reviewed sources do not give the installed kW/kWh rating [7][6]
Energy mix
Utility-grid electricity from Hawaiian Electric, 300 kW on-site solar, four new diesel generators plus selected existing diesel generation, and battery storage [6][7]

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

Microgrid controller

IPERC — GridMaster

Peer-to-peer controller nodes sit with microgrid equipment and automatically reconfigure when components change or fail. [3]

02

Integrated storage and inverter module

Go Electric, Inc.

High-speed transfer switches and controls transfer load to batteries in less than one electrical cycle before synchronizing generation. [2]

03

Microgrid control system

Intelligent Power & Energy Research Corporation — GridMaster

Secure supervisory control overlay integrating existing SCADA/PLCs, generator dispatch, renewable resources, storage, load shedding, and resynchronization [6][8]

04

Fast-transfer power electronics

Go Electric — ISIM

Instantaneous synchronization/islanding module maintaining load through transfers under one electrical cycle and synchronizing generators after outage detection [6]

05

Prime generation

Model not publicly disclosed

Four Tier 4 interim stationary diesel generators, supplemented by a selected subset of the base's existing generator fleet [7][6]

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.

  • Operational functions

    Phase III demonstrated installation-scale islanding, black start, renewable integration, generator dispatch, power-factor correction, peak management, load shedding, and secure reconnection with Hawaiian Electric. [6]

  • Cybersecurity

    GridMaster used an enclave architecture over existing control assets and underwent national-laboratory vulnerability and red-team evaluation. It received a DoD Platform IT Risk Approval/Authorization to Operate in August 2015, reported as the first DoD microgrid-control cybersecurity accreditation. [6][8]

  • Demonstration outcome

    DOE's final report states that all three SPIDERS phases successfully operated their microgrids and met the joint demonstration goals; it does not publish a Camp Smith-specific post-2015 fuel-savings data series. [6]

  • Performance caveat

    The report suggests that roughly 30% fossil-fuel reduction during long outages could be a reasonable program expectation, but this was not presented as measured Camp Smith performance and should not be treated as such. [6]

  • Current-status evidence

    Marine Corps Base Hawaii's current resources page continues to identify the Camp Smith micro-grid among installation energy innovations, but provides no operating statistics or refurbishment history. [10]

Provenance

10 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]
    SPIDERS Phase 2 Fort Carson Technology Transition Consolidated Report

    U.S. Department of Energy / Department of Defense · Primary source

  3. [3]
    Camp Smith Microgrid and Cyber Security

    U.S. Department of Energy / SPIDERS · Primary source

  4. [4]
    2016 Federal Energy and Water Management Award — SPIDERS

    U.S. Department of Energy · Primary source

  5. [5]
    Utilities and Energy Management — SPIDERS

    Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command · Primary source

  6. [6]
  7. [7]
    Energy Surety Microgrid Design Methodology

    Sandia National Laboratories · Primary source

  8. [8]
  9. [9]
    SPIDERS Microgrid Project Secures Military Power

    Sandia National Laboratories via Phys.org · Primary source

  10. [10]

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