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Otis Air National Guard Base

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

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations11
System facts20
Sources reviewed9
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

The Otis project at the 102nd Intelligence Wing on Joint Base Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was designed to combine a 1.5 MW wind turbine, a 1.6 MW diesel generator and a 1.6 MW/1.2 MWh lead-acid UltraBattery under Raytheon's Intelligent Power and Energy Management controller. It was unveiled in August 2018 and widely described as the first U.S. Department of Defense wind-powered microgrid. The December 2020 ESTCP final report materially qualifies that claim: the battery successfully entered ISO New England frequency-regulation service, but the final wind-turbine feeder connection was not completed, the existing diesel could not be used for extended islanding without a policy waiver, and the full hybrid microgrid's five-day islanding objective was not demonstrated.

Research status
The last authoritative project-closeout evidence classifies the BESS as operational in grid-tied ISO New England regulation, with successful testing, while the complete wind-diesel-battery islanding configuration remained incomplete. The final report says the wind feeder and fiber were built but the last transformer/turbine connection was outstanding; the diesel was unavailable to the demonstration and was being replaced/right-sized. No later primary source found through July 2026 confirms those integration gaps were closed. Therefore this should not be labeled an operating full hybrid microgrid solely from the 2018 ribbon-cutting coverage.
Historical classification
Military
Reported capacity
See component specifications
Coordinates
41.65865, -70.52142
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 Otis Air National Guard Base?

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

Organization

102nd Intelligence Wing / Massachusetts Air National Guard

Host installation and intended owner/operator of the resilient microgrid at Otis/JB Cape Cod. [5][9]

Organization

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Public project partner [2]

Organization

Customized Energy Solutions and CPower

Supported market qualification/participation for the storage asset; the final report identifies full ISO-NE frequency-regulation operation as the successful transition path. [5]

Organization

Dynapower

Supplied the grid-forming power-conversion system for the BESS. [5]

Organization

East Penn Manufacturing / Ecoult

Supplied the UltraBattery energy-storage system and associated battery management technology. [5][8]

Organization

Environmental Security Technology Certification Program

DoD demonstration and validation program [3]

Organization

Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP)

U.S. Department of Defense demonstration sponsor and publisher of the final performance report. [5][6]

Organization

ISO New England and Eversource

Regional market operator and interconnecting utility for the grid-tied storage/frequency-regulation operation. [7][5]

Organization

Raytheon

Lead system integrator and supplier/developer of the second-generation IPEM microgrid controller. [5][9]

Organization

Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program

DoD research program sponsor [3]

Organization

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 249th Engineer Battalion

Construction participant [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.

Distribution work
More than 3 miles of three-phase cable, 165 utility poles, and more than 4 miles of fiber [2]
Operating market
ISO New England frequency regulation [3]
Battery energy storage
1.6 MW active power, 2 MVA inverter rating and 1.2 MWh nominal energy, installed in two battery enclosures. [5]
Wind generation
1.5 MW Fuhrländer FL1500 turbine at 690 V with doubly fed asynchronous generator. The turbine predated the project; final connection to the microgrid feeder was not completed by closeout. [5]
Diesel generation
1.6 MW Kohler 1600REOZM Tier 2 generator. Its automatic-transfer-switch path was limited to about 1.25 MW at 0.98 power factor, and testing reached 910 kW before a surge/trip. Policy/access constraints prevented use in the full demonstration. [5]
Protected load
34 buildings, with approximately 0.9 MW average maximum demand and about 1.2 MW peak in the final report. [5]
Intended island duration
120 hours/five days was the demonstration objective. It was not achieved or tested as a complete hybrid system. [5]
Frequency-regulation operation
The BESS qualified for 1 MW of regulation service; the final report records 335 hours of round-trip-efficiency testing and an average regulation performance score of 97.4%. [5]

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 control system

Raytheon

Cyber-secure controller developed for the high-wind-penetration, storage-centered installation. [3]

02

Battery energy storage

East Penn Manufacturing / Ecoult

Energy-storage system supplied to Raytheon; model and ratings were not stated in the reviewed public source. [4]

03

Battery energy storage

East Penn Manufacturing / Ecoult — UltraBattery

Advanced lead-acid hybrid storage rated 1.6 MW/1.2 MWh, packaged in two enclosures for grid services and intended microgrid support. [5][8]

04

Power-conversion system

Dynapower — CPS2000 ESS

2 MVA, grid-forming PCS for battery charging/discharging and intended island voltage/frequency formation. [5]

05

Wind turbine

Fuhrländer — FL1500

1.5 MW turbine with 690 V doubly fed asynchronous generator; AMSC wtSCADA supported monitoring and curtailment at up to 200 kW/s. [5]

06

Diesel generator

Kohler — 1600REOZM

1.6 MW Tier 2 genset with Woodward ProAct II actuator, Marathon DVR2000E+ voltage regulator and ASCO 7000 automatic transfer switch. [5]

07

Microgrid controller

Raytheon — Second-generation Intelligent Power and Energy Management (IPEM)

Cyber-secure controller on an air-gapped fiber network, designed to coordinate storage, wind, diesel, switchgear and loads. [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.

  • Architecture

    The intended architecture placed grid-forming battery storage at the center of an islandable feeder with wind, standby diesel, automated switching, fiber communications and Raytheon controls. About three miles of electric cable, 165 utility poles and four miles of fiber were installed, but physical infrastructure completion did not equal a completed system-level islanding demonstration. [5][9]

  • Demonstrated performance

    The storage system successfully completed grid-tied characterization and participated in ISO New England frequency regulation. The final report estimates gross regulation revenue around US$24.80/hour, roughly US$217,000/year for continuous availability, and a projected net value of about US$178,000 per MW-year; these are modeled/period-specific economics, not a current revenue disclosure. [5]

  • Unmet islanding objective

    The project did not conduct the planned 120-hour islanding test. High-wind operation was tested only in hardware-in-the-loop simulations, the diesel could not be made available under the applicable Air Force instruction without a waiver, and the wind turbine was not finally tied to the new feeder. [5]

  • Reliability issue

    One inverter module failed near final reporting and was scheduled for warranty replacement in January 2021. No later source reviewed confirms that replacement or reports current battery state of health. [5]

  • Public-status discrepancy

    The August 2018 unveiling and contemporaneous ISO New England account described an operational microgrid and market opportunity. The later final report is controlling evidence for outcome: only the BESS/grid-services path was fully demonstrated, while wind/diesel islanding integration remained unfinished. [7][9][5]

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]
  3. [3]
  4. [4]
    Energy Storage for Otis Air National Guard Base

    Consortium for Battery Innovation · Primary source

  5. [5]
  6. [6]
    Advancing Microgrid Solutions

    SERDP-ESTCP · Primary source

  7. [7]
  8. [8]
    Otis Air National Guard Base

    Consortium for Battery Innovation · Primary source

  9. [9]
    Energy Express, August 2018

    Air Force Civil Engineer Center · Primary source

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