Photo By Scott Sturkol | Workers set up a generator during a Black Start exercise Sept. 10, 2024, at Fort...... read more read more
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Fort McCoy joined many other Department of Defense and Army installations in testing its energy resiliency as it held a Black Start Exercise on Sept. 10 at the installation.
The no-notice exercise began at 8:06 a.m. when the power to the installation was shut down and went on for eight hours. During the exercise, the Fort McCoy Installation Emergency Operations Center was active and activity during the power outage was managed throughout the day.
Facilities that have working generators were able to continue full operations. Other areas allowed for maximized teleworking for employees. Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services leaders said the installation security and emergency services coverage were not affected as the area remained fully secure and emergency personnel stood ready as needed.
Black Start is an energy resilience readiness exercise designed to test the installation’s emergency and standby energy generation systems, key infrastructure, and equipment, planning documents show. Garrison personnel learned from exercise outcomes about the infrastructure needs for crucial installation missions in the event of a power loss.
The Black Start exercise construct was designed following the Congressional mandate requiring Department of Defense services to test their ability to operate without power in an emergency, according to the Department of Defense Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Environment and Energy Resilience at https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/eer/cr/ie/exercises.html,
Black Start exercises are “real-world installation energy exercises in which the delivery of energy provided from off an installation is terminated before backup generation assets on the installation are turned on,” the website states. “These exercises determine the ability of the backup systems to start independently, transfer the load, and carry the load until energy from off the installation is restored.
“They align installation organizations with critical missions to ensure the ability to meet critical mission requirements, validate mission operation plans, identify infrastructure interdependencies, and verify backup electric power system performance,” the website states. “Similarly, energy resilience table-top exercises are simulated, war-room exercises that assess an installation’s ability to respond to different power disruption scenarios and are utilized when a Black Start exercise is unfeasible.”
There was a low amount of training going on at the installation during the time of the exercise, which likely eased issues with completing the exercise. Additionally, now that the exercise is complete, Fort McCoy Garrison officials will review any findings from the exercise and strengthen any weaknesses as further after-action analysis is completed by Fort McCoy’s Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security.
Other installations completing this same kind of training in recent years include Fort Liberty, N.C.; Fort Carson, Colo.; Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Knox, Ky.; and many more.
“The DOD, like the electric industry, prepares for loss of power to the transmission system and attempts to recover power by black start capable generation assets,” states a DOD talking paper about the exercises at https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/eer/cr/ie/docs/exercises/DoD-and-Industry-Black-Start-Exercise-Information-Paper.pdf. “The key difference is that the DOD operates distributed energy assets that require low voltage distribution of power to sustain critical mission operations. The distribution of power for DOD occurs within its fence-line at the substation, feeder, or building level. It is critical to realize that the objective of the DOD, along with the electric industry, during a black start event is energy resilience.”
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 09.12.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.12.2024 18:04 |
| Story ID: | 480742 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 1,307 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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