Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is in the process of significantly bolstering their energy security through the installation of new equipment, the repair of failing equipment and upgrading and building out its facility related controls systems to provide command and control capability to over 600 facilities on site.
The cost-effective method of implementing the upgrades is through a program entitled Utility Energy Services Contract. The UESC incentive program was authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and in the case of Marine Corps installations, is a limited-source contract between the Department of the Navy and the local serving utility for energy- efficiency improvements and other services to reduce energy use and improve facility energy and water operations systems. UESC projects are developed collaboratively with the local serving utility to help identify Energy Conservation Measures and other cost-saving opportunities through the installation of new equipment or the replacement of outdated, inefficient equipment. The installation uses the realized savings on the utility bill to pay back the utility for the work over a pre-determined period of time as set forth in the UESC contract.
The current contract referred to as UESC Project 19.1; includes upgrades to Facility Related Control Systems, installation and repair of advanced meters, replacing outdated lighting with LEDs, installing high efficiency boilers, energy efficient transformers, retro commissioning of hundreds of base buildings and the installation of supervisory, control and data acquisition system at three of Camp Pendleton’s major substations and advanced water treatment plant. The new SCADA system will provide real time monitoring of critical base resources that will increase the resiliency and reliability of vital utility infrastructure.
Two unique aspects of this UESC project are the inclusion of the Cybersecurity-mandated Risk Management Framework requirements in order to attain an Authorization to Operate and the creation of a radio communication architecture across the expansive installation to facilitate the connection to remote sites that previously could not remotely communicate important status and metering data.
“…By installing new LED lighting, boilers, meters, and a fiber and radio network, we are significantly reducing Camp Pendleton’s energy consumption.” Lt. j.g. Clayten White, MCBCP Utilities Program Manager
Charles Howell, MCBCP Installation Energy Manager, discussed the Automated Meter Infrastructure aspect, “The AMI project consisting of repairing electric meters, upgrading software and hardware and expanding our AMI will get Camp Pendleton one step closer to having real-time consumption data for all electric, water and natural gas metered facilities.”
Real-time consumption data is important to allow for optimized energy distribution and automated immediate reporting of power outages, leaks or service issues to the base energy team as well as empowering commands and tenants to make smarter decisions about their energy usage.
“(This project) is increasing Camp Pendleton’s energy resiliency and efficiency,” said Lt. j.g. Clayten White, MCBCP Utilities Program Manager. “By installing new LED lighting, boilers, meters, and a fiber and radio network, we are significantly reducing Camp Pendleton’s energy consumption.”
Making the installation more energy efficient is a significant step in attaining energy security. Overall energy security is a combination of energy reliability, energy efficiency and energy resilience.
The turnkey price of the upgrades is $12.7 million and will be repaid over a period of 13 years.
The Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton Energy Team is constantly exploring every possible avenue available to upgrade energy- related infrastructure and equipment to ensure the installation is prepared to continue the mission in the event of a power disruption from the local utility.
