Marines Test Alternative Power in Afghanistan

03/01/11

By Rita Boland, SIGNAL Magazine
March 2011

The U.S. Marine Corps hopes a forward operating base that obtains its power from renewable energy sources will benefit the force in many ways—especially by saving lives. Eliminating the need for fuel deliveries lowers the number of convoys and exposed troops on treacherous roads in perilous places. The experimental base also could reduce the amount of equipment Marines take into theater, ensuring the Corps remains an expeditionary force. With the tools in the battlespace now, program officials are waiting to hear how the concept performs in combat.

Warfighters in the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment’s Company I volunteered to take the Expeditionary Forward Operating Base (ExFOB) with them on their seven-month deployment in Afghanistan to determine how the included technologies operate on the battlefield. The deployment follows field studies at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California. In that environment, Marines were able to maintain continuous power for 200 hours without any fossil fuels. Program officials decided the time was right to send it into combat operations based on the users’ assessments. “A 19-year-old Marine gave us the thumbs up,” says Col. Bob “Brutus” Charette Jr., USMC, director, Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office.

Narrowing down which technologies to include in the ExFOB was an involved process for decision makers. They received almost 200 proposals to evaluate and eventually invited 26 vendors to showcase their capabilities at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. In the end, the Marines purchased seven technologies, six of which traveled to Afghanistan. The items sent into the theater are a solar field shelter to power lights and field communications; a portable hybrid photovoltaic/battery power system called the Ground Renewable Expeditionary ENergy System (GREENS); a ReGenerator that uses solar energy to power high-tech devices; a towable solar lighting system, a light-emitting diode (LED) lighting system; and the Solar Portable Alternative Communications Energy System that offers portable power to charge batteries, operate communications equipment and run electronic accessories.

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