Key developments first.
Reading
USACE Power Reliability Enhancement Program moved under Huntsville Center; ran 12 Black Start Exercises this year (7 Army, 4 Air Force, 1 Navy), each cutting commercial power for at least 8 hours. Surfaced 2026-10-26 PM.
$51.6M HSGS-Ameresco award (Sept 18): installation-wide black-start microgrid with 10 MW new gas generation at Anniston Army Depot, due Apr 2029. Surfaced as catch-up 2026-10-26.
USACE Louisville RFI weighing OTA progressive design-build for ERCIP microgrids: Fort Sill 18 MW black-start natural gas plant + microgrid (14+ day critical loads) and Camp Parks PRFTA microgrid expansion to full peak critical load. Market research only. Surfaced as catch-up 2026-10-26 PM.
Routine Fort Knox 15-minute generator-switch test Oct 13. Older; logged silently.
USACE NY opened bids Sept 28 for JBMDL (McGuire AFB) microgrid: 2x500 kW gas gens, 3x500 kW/500 kWh batteries, ~400 kW solar, black-start of 2.5 MW critical loads within 60 s; gov estimate $16.43M, low bid PKF-Mark III $11.35M; no award yet, funds not yet appropriated. Surfaced as catch-up 2026-10-27 AM.
$99.7M ERCIP award: 15 MW combined heat and power plant plus microgrid with black start and islanding at Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, due July 2029. Surfaced as catch-up 2026-10-26.
Extends required black-start exercise schedule through FY2032.
No-notice eight-hour blackout at Fort McCoy.
Fort Benning (then Moore) tested with transmission feed shut down.
Hill AFB cut commercial power for 10 hours.
I2AP: microgrids at 14 AF + 2 USSF bases by FY2030; ERREs at 25 bases by FY2027.
Maxwell AFB/Gunter cut commercial power for an ERRE.
Fort Drum's first black-start exercise.
Knox restored its whole grid in seven minutes and ran independently eight hours.
Services expanding no-notice blackout drills; NAVFAC planning three black starts in 2022.
First regional ERRE across Schriever, Buckley, Peterson; DoD at 10 ERREs since FY2020.
First Army installation-wide black start: Knox ran on its own power for a full workday.
Army explains 14-day benchmark and black-start testing at posts.
Air Force completed two base-wide pull-the-plug outages, one paired with a simulated utility cyberattack.
Directed black-start exercises at major installations and boosted energy resilience programs.
Air Force tallies energy resilience analyses, tabletops and pull-the-plug exercises; warns adversaries target grid.
OSD had run four black-start exercises ($250-500K each); Air Force logged ~240 notable outages in FY2018.
50 MW multi-fuel plant on Army land can black-start and island Schofield, Wheeler and Kunia.