Alternative Energy Sources Augmenting and/or Replacing Existing Generators

The Air Force is looking at ways to reduce the cost of delivering fuel to field deployed diesel powered generators. Although these units have provided reliable power for many years, the cost of re-supplying diesel fuel to the battlefield can be as much as $400 a gallon, when re-supplied by airlift, or $11,000 a day. Additionally diesel generators require ongoing preventative maintenance, which often means mission critical activities must be curtailed during maintenance. To offset or eliminate dependence on diesel fuel to power field deployed equipment, the Air Force is looking for commercially available, alternative energy technologies that capture renewable energy resources. Schafer is proposing to design a transportable renewable energy source that is based upon existing commercial off-the-self technology (COTS). We propose a modular design that incorporates energy from different renewable technologies, such as solar, wind, fuel cells, and batteries, so that field deployed systems can be configured to meet specific mission requirements and provide for redundancy in power. The portable package will incorporate a power management system that will provide field personnel needed monitoring information to determine performance as well as diagnostic information on each module.