The military’s ability to accomplish critical missions, today and in the future, is directly dependent on reliable energy to power installations. For the Wisconsin National Guard, tasked with providing citizen-Soldiers and citizen-Airmen prepared to deploy anywhere at any time for state and federal missions, energy resilience is paramount.

The Air Force Office of Energy Assurance (OEA) recently accepted an invitation to visit Joint Force Headquarters-Wisconsin in Madison and the Wisconsin National Guard 128th Air Refueling Wing in Milwaukee to determine how the Air Force Energy Storefront can best assist Wisconsin in developing technical solutions to meet their energy challenges.
The OEA team witnessed how the Wisconsin National Guard is making energy resilience a critical objective through innovative public-private partnerships, power outage exercises and resilient energy projects. In spring 2018, Wisconsin’s adjutant general and senior executives from Wisconsin’s electrical utilities initiated a public-private partnership aimed at effectively preparing for, mitigating and responding to electrical utility grid incidents. The Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs and Wisconsin utility companies participated in large-scale power outage exercises that tested each organization’s emergency response plan. Exercises such as GridEx and Dark Sky helped the Wisconsin National Guard determine energy resilience gaps across the state.
OEA also met with Joint Force Headquarters-Wisconsin and utility representatives of the partnership to discuss how these collaborative efforts are identifying important lessons learned, opening new lines of communication and improving interoperability. The group also touched on ways the Wisconsin National Guard can access OEA capabilities and future opportunities for replicating Wisconsin’s initiatives at other active, guard and reserve installations across the nation. 
In addition to building external partnerships and participating in statewide exercises, the Wisconsin military is looking at technical solutions for on-base energy resilience. During OEA’s visit, the 128th Air Refueling Wing, led by Col. James Locke, executed Badger Eclipse, a local power outage exercise on their Milwaukee installation at Mitchell International Airport. Such an exercise is crucial for identifying system weaknesses and areas of improvement, and yet is almost unheard of at military installations. In addition, National Guard staff in both Madison and Milwaukee are looking into diverse solutions to help strengthen their energy resilience in the long-term. Aside from resilient energy solutions for military missions, partnerships with neighboring commercial airport operations can establish a means to provide care and shelter for civilians in the local community.
OEA is excited to support the National Guard’s energy efforts and looks forward to continuing their engagement in Wisconsin and with other National Guard units and state leaders across the country.
Installations and/or Wings interested in pursuing energy resilient projects are encouraged to contact OEA through the Energy Storefront Platform.