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Fort Devens

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

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations8
System facts20
Sources reviewed12
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

The legacy Fort Devens microgrid record is best supported as a 2009–2010 net-zero and secure-energy planning effort, not a commissioned permanent microgrid. The Army Reserve asked FEMP and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to assess net-zero electric and thermal operation, while Sandia developed a strategy for critical-load safe havens lasting at least two weeks. Because the three priority load clusters were nonadjacent, the study concluded that as many as three microgrids might be required. It screened photovoltaic, geothermal, hydro, natural-gas generation, batteries, and propane backup, but did not select final capacities or vendors. A separate 2012–2013 Smart and Green Energy (SAGE) tactical base-camp demonstration at Fort Devens did operate three 100 kW Caterpillar generators, 12.9 kW of PV, and roughly 250 kWh of AGM battery storage; that portable equipment moved to Fort Leonard Wood after testing and was not the permanent net-zero installation envisioned in 2010.

Research status
Planning/concept project with realization unverified. The 2010 PNNL report documents assessment, site barriers, and candidate technologies rather than construction or commissioning, and current Fort Devens public-works and sustainability materials reviewed do not establish that the proposed installation-scale microgrid was built. The separate SAGE base-camp demonstration ran from January 2012 through March 2013, completed stable field trials and fuel-reduction testing, and then transferred its equipment to the Contingency Base Integration Technology Evaluation Center at Fort Leonard Wood.
Historical classification
Military
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
42.54550, -71.61393
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 Fort Devens?

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

Organization

Caterpillar

Supplied the prime diesel-generator sets, controls, and bidirectional inverter used in the separate SAGE tactical demonstration. [9]

Organization

Federal Energy Management Program

Supported the installation-wide net-zero assessment requested after the Army Reserve's April 2009 initiative. [2]

Organization

LEX Products

Supplied the PowerHOUSE tactical power-distribution equipment for SAGE. [9]

Organization

MassDevelopment

Municipal-utility owner/operator context for much of the redeveloped former base, creating interconnection and wheeling considerations for the Army's noncontiguous parcels. [2]

Organization

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Performed the 2010 site assessment and led evaluation and reporting for the separate SAGE field demonstration. [2][9]

Organization

Sandia National Laboratories

Developed the secure microgrid strategy and participated in Base Camp Integration Laboratory energy demonstrations. [2][10][12]

Organization

U.S. Army Reserve / Fort Devens

Host and sponsor of the legacy net-zero and critical-load microgrid planning effort and host of the separate base-camp demonstration. [2][8][9]

Organization

US Department of Defence

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

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.

Legacy resilience objective
Critical-base-operation safe havens capable of operating for at least two weeks during a utility outage, alongside a longer-term net-zero electric and thermal goal [2]
Legacy prospective topology
Three nonadjacent priority clusters—Maloney, Ear Muffs, and Barnum—making one contiguous island impractical and potentially requiring three microgrids [2]
Legacy screened resources
Rooftop, parking-canopy, ground, and landfill photovoltaic generation; geothermal heat pumps; waste heat; nearby hydro; natural-gas fuel cells or microturbines; flow or conventional batteries; and propane backup—all planning candidates, not a final installed mix [2]
Adjacent hydro opportunity
A privatized nearby hydro plant was estimated to provide about 250 kW of firm capacity with a possible 400 kW expansion; off-site procurement and wheeling barriers meant it was not established as a Fort Devens microgrid asset [2]
Separate SAGE prime generation
Three Caterpillar XQ100 100 kW diesel/JP-8 generator sets, with an optional 60 kW MEP-806A tactical quiet generator [9]
Separate SAGE photovoltaic capacity
Two Sharp photovoltaic arrays totaling 12.9 kW with Enphase microinverters [9]
Separate SAGE storage
Approximately 250 kWh modeled usable capacity through a Caterpillar BDI-250 250 kW bidirectional inverter; designed for 100 kW for two hours or 250 kW for 20 minutes and laboratory-tested for 2 hours 14 minutes at 100 kW and 26 minutes at 250 kW [9]

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

Legacy concept resources

Model not publicly disclosed

The 2010 assessment considered photovoltaic arrays, geothermal wells and heat pumps, waste-heat recovery, hydro purchases, natural-gas fuel cells or microturbines, conventional or flow batteries, and propane backup. No final manufacturers, models, ratings, or procurement decisions were documented, so these are not treated as installed equipment. [2]

02

Separate SAGE generator sets

Caterpillar — XQ100 with EMCP 4.4 controls

Three 100 kW mobile diesel/JP-8 units were coordinated as a right-sized microgrid instead of the baseline configuration of six independently operated 60 kW tactical generators. [9]

03

Separate SAGE distribution

LEX Products — PowerHOUSE

Mobile 208/120 V, three-phase distribution connected the generators, storage, photovoltaic generation, and base-camp loads. [9]

04

Separate SAGE power conversion

Caterpillar — BDI-250

A 250 kW bidirectional inverter charged and discharged the battery banks and supported silent or reduced-generator operation. [9]

05

Separate SAGE batteries

GNB Industrial Power — Absolyte AGM

Four banks of 384 valve-regulated lead-acid AGM cells provided the demonstration's electrochemical storage. The report models approximately 250 kWh of capacity but does not present a simple manufacturer-rated nameplate kWh total. [9]

06

Separate SAGE photovoltaic system

Sharp / Enphase

Two Sharp module arrays with Enphase microinverters supplied 12.9 kW total. [9]

07

Separate SAGE supervisory controls

Dynamic System Optimization Model (DSOM)

Supervisory software dispatched generators and storage in response to load and resource conditions. The detailed report does not identify a separate commercial manufacturer for the DSOM implementation. [9]

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.

  • Legacy planning outcome

    The 2010 work identified resource options, critical-load clusters, and regulatory and ownership barriers. It did not produce an as-built design. Some rooftop photovoltaic projects and geothermal wells already had appropriations, but their installed capacity and integration into a microgrid were not established in the reviewed report. [2]

  • Utility and site constraint

    After the 1996 base realignment, the Army retained roughly 4,800 acres in noncontiguous areas while MassDevelopment operated the surrounding municipal utility and Wellesley operated distribution. State-law, interconnection, and power-wheeling constraints complicated use of off-site renewable resources across the installation. [2]

  • SAGE test scope

    The Base Camp Integration Laboratory opened in June 2011 with twin 150-soldier camps. SAGE testing ran from January 2012 through March 2013, comparing the optimized microgrid, photovoltaics, storage, and efficiency measures against six 60 kW tactical generators. [8][9]

  • SAGE performance

    The field report found stable operation and fuel reductions up to 34% for the microgrid controls alone, 20.6% in one reported phase, 30.1% for a modeled/scaled combination of microgrid plus 52 kW of PV and storage, and as much as 54% when all tested technologies were combined. Photovoltaics supplied as much as 12% of daily energy. These figures refer to different test configurations and should not be collapsed into one annual result. [9]

  • SAGE disposition

    After the Fort Devens demonstration, the portable system was moved to Fort Leonard Wood's Contingency Base Integration Technology Evaluation Center for continued testing. It therefore should not be counted as permanent Fort Devens generation or storage. [9]

  • Evidence boundary

    No commissioning record, as-built capacity, vendor inventory, measured energy mix, or current operating data was found for the 2009–2010 installation-scale concept. A separate CERDEC claim of 37% fuel savings and the SAGE results may reflect different base-camp configurations and are not assigned to the permanent concept. [2][11][9]

Provenance

12 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]
    Fort Devens Net Zero Energy Installation Assessment

    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory · Primary source

  3. [3]
    Massachusetts Military Bases Strategic Energy Plan

    Commonwealth of Massachusetts · Primary source

  4. [4]
    U.S. Army Reserve 2021 Annual Report

    U.S. Army Reserve · Primary source

  5. [5]
    Sustainable Devens RFTA

    U.S. Army Garrison Fort Devens · Primary source

  6. [6]
    Directorate of Public Works

    U.S. Army Garrison Fort Devens · Primary source

  7. [7]
  8. [8]
  9. [9]
    Smart and Green Energy for Base Camps Final Report

    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory · Primary source

  10. [10]
    Defense Energy

    Sandia National Laboratories · Primary source

  11. [11]
    Fort Devens Tests New Base Camp Energy Technologies

    Defense Visual Information Distribution Service · Primary source

  12. [12]
    Base Camp Integration Laboratory Energy Technology Demonstrations

    Sandia National Laboratories · Primary source

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