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North America / Defense

Kirtland AFB Microgrid

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

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations7
System facts12
Sources reviewed7
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Kirtland Air Force Base hosts a 250 kW, ten-node, bipolar-DC research microgrid that links six temporary-lodging duplexes, a community building, and Sandia National Laboratories test facilities. The first phase entered sustained autonomous operation in December 2019 and combines rooftop PV, distributed and central battery storage, natural-gas backup generation, electric-vehicle charging, bidirectional utility exchange, and hierarchical controls. A separate Air Force Research Laboratory contract modification announced in May 2025 is intended to add generation, storage, and multi-microgrid control for Civil Engineering facilities; public evidence does not establish that expansion as commissioned.

Research status
The original Emera/BlockEnergy-Sandia pilot is operational: DOE reported autonomous operation from December 15, 2019, Sandia reported a second successful year in 2021, and a 2023 technical paper described the fielded system as operating since 2019. In May 2025, AFRL added $3.5 million to Concurrent Technologies Corporation's contract, bringing that separate expansion effort to $8.5 million. The announcement describes work to be performed, not a completed second phase. No public completion notice, 2024-2026 annual production, outage record, storage health, or realized cost savings was located.
Historical classification
Military
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
35.01284, -106.51127
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 Kirtland AFB Microgrid?

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

Organization

Air Force Research Laboratory and Concurrent Technologies Corporation

AFRL is customer/sponsor and CTC is prime contractor for the later Civil Engineering facility expansion and multi-microgrid-control effort announced in 2025. [7]

Organization

Bridgers & Paxton Consulting Engineers

Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineer for the original resiliency project; its portfolio provides an as-designed storage rating that differs from BlockEnergy's published energy figure. [5]

Organization

Emera Technologies / BlockEnergy

Developer of the modular BlockBox/BlockCentral DC architecture, distributed controls, storage, and power electronics used in the original phase. Emera Technologies now markets the platform as BlockEnergy. [4][3]

Organization

Kirtland Air Force Base / 377th Air Base Wing

Host installation and operator of the facilities served by the field demonstration. [2][3]

Organization

Sandia National Laboratories

Research, integration, test, and validation partner; connected its Distributed Energy Technologies Laboratory and Photovoltaic Systems Evaluation Laboratory to the field microgrid. [2][3][6]

Organization

U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity

Federal research sponsor for the original DC-microgrid demonstration. [3]

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.

Original microgrid rating and topology
250 kW, ten nodes, on a single bipolar ±375 VDC common bus; the field network can be configured radially or as a loop and uses high-impedance grounding [3][6]
Solar photovoltaic capacity
100 kW of rooftop PV in the original project [4][5]
Battery rating conflict
BlockEnergy publishes 220 kWh, while the project's consulting engineer publishes 200 kW/200 kWh. The reviewed sources do not reconcile whether these are nominal versus usable ratings or design revisions. [4][5]
Utility-interface capability
Up to 100 kW bidirectional import/export at the central energy park in the research architecture [6]

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

Distributed nanogrid modules

Emera Technologies / BlockEnergy — BlockBox

Each residential power block combines local battery storage, power conversion, grid-forming capability, controls, protection, and up to a 10 kW bidirectional DC/DC interface. Each node can island locally. [4][6]

02

Central energy park

Emera Technologies / BlockEnergy — BlockCentral

Central storage and generation establish the DC-bus voltage and coordinate power across the distributed nodes and utility connection. [4][6]

03

Generation and charging assets

Model not publicly disclosed

The original system includes rooftop solar, batteries, natural-gas generation, and EV chargers. Public sources reviewed do not disclose the gas-generator manufacturer/model/rating, PV module/inverter models, charger ratings, or battery cell vendor/chemistry. [3][5]

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.

  • Demonstrated operating modes

    DOE reported import and export to the bulk grid, black start, and long-duration self-sustained operation. During the first six months, the system exported excess renewable power rather than only serving an isolated test load. [3]

  • Hierarchical controls

    Distributed nanogrids can form their own local AC service while the central energy park sets and coordinates the shared DC bus. BlockEnergy describes real-time, data-driven control; public material does not identify a commercial controller model or publish the optimization code. [4][6]

  • DC protection research

    The custom protection system detects high current slew rate, isolates a fault, and discharges the affected bus. Sandia's field tests report one fault case clearing current in under 1 ms and describe a design target to detect and disable within 2 ms. [6]

  • 2025 expansion boundary

    CTC's later contract is described as building on the existing testbed to serve Civil Engineering facilities, add generation and storage, coordinate multiple DC microgrids, extend off-grid duration, and reduce utility purchases. No capacities, vendors, construction milestone, or commissioning date were published. [7]

  • Open evidence gaps

    No independently audited annual energy mix, renewable output, fuel consumption, outage-support duration, battery degradation, availability, or realized savings through July 2026 was located. The 200 versus 220 kWh storage discrepancy also remains unresolved. [3][7]

Provenance

7 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 2020-07-06

  2. [2]
  3. [3]
    Kirtland Air Force Base DC Microgrid Is Fully Operational

    U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity · Primary source

  4. [4]
  5. [5]
    Kirtland Air Force Base Microgrid Resiliency Project

    Bridgers & Paxton Consulting Engineers · Primary source

  6. [6]
    Testing and Characterization of Fault Scenarios of a Hierarchical DC Microgrid for Residential Applications

    Sandia National Laboratories / CIGRE US National Committee · Primary source

  7. [7]

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