Ohio Air National Guard Closes Bidding for Base-Wide Microgrid With Solar and Battery Options

The Ohio Air National Guard’s 178th Wing is closing bids August 3 for construction of a base-wide microgrid at Springfield-Beckley Air National Guard Base in Springfield, Ohio, designed to maintain energy resilience for critical round-the-clock operations during utility disruptions. The federal solicitation places the estimated construction value between $7 million and $9 million and makes natural-gas generation and microgrid controls the core project, with solar photovoltaic generation and battery energy storage included as contract options.

The Department of Defense solicitation sets an 11 a.m. Eastern deadline on August 3 and reserves the procurement for small businesses. The base scope calls for natural-gas generators, microgrid controls and associated work, while a photovoltaic solar array is listed as Option 1 and a battery energy storage system as Option 2.

The microgrid is designed around mission resilience

The official federal procurement notice identifies the project as WAAR209001 and states that the 178th Civil Engineer Squadron requires a base-wide microgrid to ensure energy resilience for critical 24/7 operations.

The procurement represents a familiar military microgrid strategy: combine dispatchable on-site generation with controls capable of coordinating base electrical infrastructure during a utility outage, while retaining the option to integrate renewable generation and storage.

Contract documents summarized in the procurement record indicate that the system is intended to support islanded operation during extended grid outages. Islanding allows a microgrid to separate electrically from the external utility network and continue supplying designated loads using local energy resources.

Solar and battery storage remain options rather than guaranteed installations

The project’s base bid includes natural-gas generators, microgrid controls and general construction work. Solar and battery storage are separately identified as options that will be evaluated and may be exercised at award.

That distinction means the procurement should not yet be described as an awarded solar-plus-storage microgrid. Whether the photovoltaic array and battery energy storage system ultimately become part of the construction contract depends on the government’s award decision.

The solicitation also requires equipment interfacing with the base’s Direct Digital Controls infrastructure to be compatible with Honeywell Niagara 4. The requirement is intended to preserve interoperability with existing control infrastructure rather than create a separate parallel system.

An independent federal procurement summary confirms the $7 million to $9 million disclosed project magnitude, August 3 deadline and the separate solar and BESS options.

The 178th Wing supports persistent intelligence operations

The resilience requirement is tied to the mission performed at Springfield. According to the 178th Wing’s official fact sheet, the unit conducts intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and operations-support missions and is associated with the MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft.

The wing’s official mission encompasses intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance as well as broader operational support for federal and state missions.

Those activities can make continuity of electrical service particularly important. Communications, computing, intelligence systems, security infrastructure and facility controls can all depend on reliable power even when the surrounding utility system is unavailable.

The 178th Wing has also been expanding its ability to support MQ-9 activity directly from Springfield. In 2024, the wing hosted an MQ-9 Reaper at Springfield-Beckley Air National Guard Base as part of an exercise involving satellite launch and recovery, maintenance and other operational functions.

Military facilities are a natural use case for islandable microgrids

Military bases have become an important market for microgrid technology because their power requirements combine two characteristics: critical loads that cannot tolerate long outages and physical campuses where multiple distributed energy resources can be coordinated behind a common control system.

A properly configured microgrid can monitor the external grid, disconnect when necessary and prioritize critical facilities while dispatching available local generation and storage.

Battery storage can add fast-response capability and help manage transitions between operating states, while solar can reduce fuel consumption and provide additional local generation when conditions permit. Dispatchable generators can provide sustained power when renewable production is unavailable.

The exact architecture of the 178th Wing system will depend on the final award and whether the optional solar and battery components are exercised.

The next milestone is the contract award

The August 3 deadline closes the bidding stage rather than completing the project. The solicitation says an award will be made to the responsible bidder whose submission conforms to the invitation and is most advantageous to the government based on price-related factors.

The procurement is structured as a total small-business set-aside under NAICS 237130, covering power and communication line and related structures construction.

No winning contractor had been identified at research time, and the optional solar and battery components should not be treated as committed until the award documents establish that they have been exercised.

Once an award is announced, the selected configuration will provide a clearer picture of how extensively the Springfield installation will combine dispatchable generation, renewable energy and storage. For now, the procurement establishes the central objective: giving the 178th Wing a base-wide microgrid capable of supporting critical operations when conventional utility service is disrupted.