Nichols Martin
Two Guidehouse executives advise the Department of Defense to assess resiliency investments and implement mobility to reduce the impacts of natural disasters and extreme climate events on DOD’s energy infrastructure, Breaking Defense reported Thursday.
Hector Artze, a partner with Guidehouse’s energy, sustainability and infrastructure segment, said understanding existing vulnerabilities can help military installations boost climate resiliency in recapitalization efforts.
DOD was encouraged to consider how to plan, develop and implement new resilient energy systems for both recapitalized and future facilities and platforms.
Jan Vrins, partner and segment leader of the ES&I segment, said risks associated with extreme climate events have increased as the U.S. has been witnessing an average of 15 hurricanes per year between 2015 and 2020. The number represents more than double the annual hurricane count average in previous years.
Vrins said they expect extreme climate events to happen more often and with a greater impact on DOD operations.
The military’s growing adoption of multi-domain operations also highlights the need to keep assets out of calamity’s way.
“On top of, obviously, things like microgrids and energy storage, I think that mobile assets that can be moved around become important elements of resiliency,” Vrins stated.
