Capabilities-Based Planning for Energy Security at Department of Defense Installations
Abstract
Extensive energy delivery outages in 2012, such as the widespread electricity, natural gas, and refined oil product disruptions due to Hurricane Sandy; the summer weather-related outages in the Washington, D.C., area; and the largest blackout in global history in India, have reinforced public and policymaker awareness of risks to the electricity infrastructure system. The U.S. electricity grid is vulnerable to disruptions from natural hazards and actor-induced outages, such as physical or cyber attacks. Since Department of Defense (DoD) installations in the United States rely on the commercial electricity grid for 99 percent of their electricity needs, nearly all critical functions on installations depend on infrastructure outside DoD s control. In the event of a catastrophic disaster such as a severe hurricane, massive earthquake, or largescale terrorist attack DoD installations would be a base for emergency services. The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review therefore identified diversifying energy sources and increasing efficiency in DoD operations as critical goals. In response, DoD is developing installation energy security portfolios to enhance energy security that use a mix of new technologies and modifications to operations. Currently, the notion of enhancing energy security on DoD installations is not fully defined. Energy security for how long? Under what conditions? At what cost? And most importantly, for what reasons? Without an understanding of these issues, planning for, executing, and evaluating proposed enhancements is challenging. The underlying analytical question for energy security is, What critical capabilities do U.S. installations provide, and how can DoD maintain these capabilities during an energy services disruption in the most cost-effective manner? Answering this question requires a systems approach that incorporates technological, economic, and operational uncertainties. In other words, this problem is well suited for capabilities-based plann
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA573876
Entities
People
- Constantine Samaras
- Henry H. Willis
Organizations
- RAND Corporation