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    1. Distributed Energy

    Fort Leonard Wood begins Construction on Energy projects including CHP plant, syngas production

    Aug. 23, 2022
    Work at Army base in Missouri includes a Propane-Air Mixing Plant that makes synthetic natural gas to meet gas demand at the facility in the event of a natural gas failure or when prices are high
    Image credit U.S. Army
    Wood Army Training 6304f3204fb6b

    Fort Leonard Wood, a U.S. Army training installation located in the Missouri Ozarks, is undertaking a project which includes a central power utility plant, emergency back-up generators and other infrastructure.

    The construction also will include a 235,400 square-foot hospital, a 193,300 square-foot clinic, a five-bay ambulance garage, helipad and supporting facilities.

    The energy initiatives already in place or underway at the installation are a Propane-Air Mixing Plant and the two combined heat and power plants. The Propane-Air Mixing Plant makes synthetic natural gas, which will come handy in the event of a natural gas failure or when natural gas prices are high.  

    “We were able to offset about 20 percent of our gas needs this way,” Installation Energy Manager Allen Simpson with the Directorate of Public Works, said. “This has been a tremendous asset; it’s a great resiliency piece on our part.”

    Meanwhile, the DPW is also working on the installation of two combined heat and power plants, which will produce approximately 7% of the peak power demand at Fort Leonard Wood.

    “The efficiency comes because we are capturing the heat that’s produced in that process and putting that heat into a boiler plant,” Simpson added. “So, we’re not having to buy that natural gas to heat the boilers. The natural gas offsets itself while we are able to produce our own electricity.”

    Preparations are also underway to receive EVs for transitioning the facility’s non-tactical vehicles to a 100% zero-emission vehicle fleet by 2035. The plan will also include the installation of charging stations – one for every four to six vehicles.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.