FORT KNOX, Ky. (WDRB) -- Fort Knox lost all power on purpose Wednesday morning in order to test the post’s multi-million dollar backup power system.
There are now six sub stations that can generate enough power for the post to fully operate without any need for external power. More than $60 million was invested in order to attain energy independence at Fort Knox as part of its Energy Security Program.
The plan was to cut power from LG&E just before 10 a.m. and have the post running on its own generators within ten minutes.
With the Fort Knox senior commander Maj. Gen. John Evans, U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie and Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of the Army for Energy and Sustainability Jack Surash witnessing the test, the post lost power just after 10 a.m. All lights flickered and then went dark, alarms were beeping and backup power slowly started whirring. All six sub stations were up and running in close to 15 minutes.
The Energy Security Program was initiated after the deadly ice storm in 2009. Across Kentucky, 36 people died and millions of people were without power for weeks. Fork Knox was in the dark for five days.
“We didn’t want to be in that situation again,” said Patrick Walsh, the director of public works at Fort Knox. “So now we have generator capacity to back up the entire installation.”
Leaders said it was critical to make sure Fort Knox could operate off the grid during a natural disaster or any kind of terrorist or cyber attack.
“We’re part of national security,” Walsh said. “We have six commands on the installation, many of which have worldwide missions. So we’ve got some pretty important missions on this installation. We have the human resources command, which is the human resources for all the Army. So it’s very important that they stay in operation at all times.”
Fort Knox has tested the backup generators before but never all of them and all at once. So this test was considered historic. There are nearly 2,000 facilities on post, all of which were successfully running on backup power by 10:20 a.m. Walsh said the amount of power they are capable of independently producing is more than the entire post has ever used at peak summer times.
The source of energy for the generators is mainly natural gas. There is enough natural gas locally available to run non-stop for 30 years. However, Fort Knox’s energy manager RJ Dyrdek said they do not intend to ever deplete all the natural resources.
“We could operate indefinitely,” Walsh said. “We’ve got natural gas available. We actually have our own gas well fields. So we could use them. And we’re also tied to the national Texas pipeline.”
Fort Knox required special federal permission in order to allow drilling for natural gas.
“We had to do special legislation in the current National Defense Act to make sure Fort Knox could operate this contingency,” Guthrie said. “It shows that things can work in Washington, D.C.”
The U.S. representative for Kentucky’s second district added it was a team effort to pass the bill, with defined boundaries for how they drill and maintain the resources at Fort Knox.
“The blessing to Kentucky is we have the leader of the Senate,” Guthrie said. “So he actually held the bill. It was about a day late for the final bill to pass so that this provision could be included, which makes Fort Knox unique. And it makes it better for other missions. And it makes it better for the safety and security of our soldiers, which is foremost.”
The backup power will also have a benefit to the community.
“If we can come off the grid and operate independently,” Evans said. “That allows our power supplier during times of crisis to be able to provide more power to the local communities and get their homes and their businesses back up faster.”
And when the power is not being used in an emergency, the generators are being used daily in limited amounts to help save money during high demand times for LG&E. Leaders expect the post will save close to $10 million annually.
Some of those savings are coming from extra efficiencies with the technology. Dyrdek said most power companies function at 30 percent efficiency, but Fort Knox will function around 80 percent efficiency. He said the post is reusing more of the energy in order to be more efficient and self-sustaining.
The generators let off steam or exhaust. Fort Knox is reusing that steam by heating or cooling it and then using it to heat or cool surrounding buildings. Standing outside one of the loud sub-stations, Dyrdek shared a specific example.
“We use the waste heat, make chilled water for basically free from the waste heat,” he said. “And then send the chilled water to the Human Resources command next door.”
By reusing the exhaust, Dyrdek said that method alone saves $4 million annually. The program is around a $60 million investment, which is expected to pay itself off within ten years.
New national regulations require all posts to aim toward energy independence with the goal of operating off the grid for a minimum of 14 days. Leaders on this project said Fort Knox is now capable of functioning on its own for more than 14 days and is setting the example for what is possible on other Army posts.
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