 This is a panel called clean energy and national security Each year when we're talking with our caucus co-chair senator Reid and senator Crapo This is the panel that they are especially interested They want to make sure that these topics get brought up in the context of renewable energy and energy efficiency And we couldn't agree more. They're really really important. Of course senator Reid chairman of the armed services committee senator Crapo Represents Idaho a home of Idaho National Lab doing some really really impressive work on all of this Senator Reid joined us earlier, and we are thrilled to have senator Crapo join us by video remarks So my colleague Dan O'Brien will hit play and we'll hear what senator Crapo has to say and then we'll get underway Hello, thank you all for attending the 2023 renewable energy and energy efficiency expo I extend my gratitude to EESI for putting this expo together every year Additionally, I thank my co-chair senator Reid as well as our deputy co-chairs Senator Collins and senator Van Hollen for their collaboration on the caucuses important issues the REE caucus and EESI Provide valuable opportunities to share ideas across the aisle and find bipartisan support for different clean energy objectives Over the last three years This country has seen unprecedented growth in the renewable energy sector This growth has contributed to our national energy supply and security I am particularly proud to represent Idaho where roughly 80% of our electricity comes from clean energy sources 60% from hydropower and 20% from renewables Idaho is also a national leader in the development of new clean energy technology Thanks to numerous research initiatives and public private partnerships at the Idaho National Laboratory INL is making continuous breakthroughs in green technology in fields such as electric vehicle efficiency biomass fuels and nuclear fuel and power generation Here in the Senate we have made significant legislative breakthroughs supporting these efforts over the past few years as well The bipartisan infrastructure law Allocated significant funding for long overdue efficiency and improvement projects across the country The growing climate solutions Act was also signed into law last Congress This law enables those in the agriculture and land use sectors to voluntarily sequester carbon at a cost-effective rate The law also allows the US Department of Agriculture to provide information to farmers Looking to implement practices that capture carbon, reduce emissions, improve soil health, and make operations more sustainable I look forward to continued work on the REEE caucus to further good bipartisan legislation that benefits all Americans both rural and urban The answers to our energy security needs can be found here With input from valuable members of the energy industry from across the political spectrum Again, thank you for coming to today's expo and lending your time and experience to these discussions I look forward to working with all of you in the future Thank You senator Crapo and thank you dno for helping us with the video senator Crapo is a Tremendous member to work with his staff is awesome He also worked with us on our April 19th briefing with assistant secretary for nuclear energy Katie Huff Talking about the cool work under way across the Department of Energy to develop Advanced nuclear technologies and we couldn't have done that briefing without senator Crapo as well So without any further ado that brings us to our panel clean energy and national security I'm gonna introduce our first panelist didn't have a seat and we'll go down through the line We'll have a great discussion and Extremely happy to have everyone here on the live cast as well as in person and our first speaker is Paul Farnan Paul is deputy assistant secretary for of the army for installations energy and environment Paul Thank you much. Thank you so much for being here today. I'll turn it over to you. Thank you Renewable energy and energy efficiency is absolutely critical to the Army's mission on the battlefield It means increased capability and greater protection for our soldiers and on installations here at home It means increased resilience first on the battlefield If we can reduce the amount of fuel we use in our tactical vehicles that reduces the amount of fuel We actually have to move to the battlefront It reduces the amount of fuel the Navy has to truck across the very large Pacific Ocean It reduces the amount of warships Navy has to use to protect those convoy lines It reduces the amount of fuel we have to move from the port to the front lines and thus reduces the amount of combat soldiers We have to use to protect those so that will actually increase the capabilities of the forces on the front line The vehicles can remain on station longer and so what we're doing is through anti idle kits hybridization and eventually electrification And let me just address one point really quick that seems to be a misunderstanding in some parts The army is not going to electrify all of our battle tanks tomorrow. Okay? It's not going to happen anytime soon our strategy calls for full electrification of tactical vehicles in 2050 30 years from now What we will do is we will do whatever we can to reduce the amount of fuel through hybridization and anti idle kits So our tactical vehicles when they're on the battlefield they actually sit for long periods of time But because everything's electrified you've got to run the engine got radars radios and other communications night vision goggles You name it. It's electrified So you have to run the engine if we can install these anti idle kits or hybrid at full hybridization Be able to turn the engine off and that extends the amount of time that these Vehicles can stay on station and what happens when you turn the engines off We reduce the noise and the heat and what are the two ways the enemy finds you noise and heat So not only are we saving fuel and increasing the capability of the force on the front lines But we're increasing the protection for our soldiers making them less of a target This is a very real threat And also with our contingency bases our forward operating bases They're all in remote areas everything is powered by diesel generators same deal everything's electrified You need diesel fuel in Iraq and Afghanistan. We took a thousand casualties moving fuel convoys to these contingency bases If we can reduce the amount of fuel that we use on these contingency bases by a third or half That's half the amount of fuel convoys. We have to move that's half the combat soldiers that have to go out and protect those lines That's half the casualties we're going to take so by using more efficient generators by tying together with micro grids adding some battery storage We're appropriate at portable renewable generation to increase the load further This is actually a real impact to the soldiers fighting the battles real quickly on the installations Anything any kind of energy that comes from outside the fence line is vulnerable Every army installation every military installation in this country gets their power just like everybody else does in their homes from the grid If the grid goes down look if there's a war again, we are in a contested homeland Okay, we've never had a fight a war before in a contested homeland So I've been very easy to get the forces out the door and overseas to the battlefield But we will never fight another war that's not in a contested homeland the first shot of the next war isn't necessarily going to be a Bullet on artillery shell. It's gonna be a cyber attack We have to expect that the grid is gonna go down not for hours or days possibly for weeks or months our Installations have to be able to function it comes from if power comes from outside of the fence line It's vulnerable. We've got a lot of diesel generators. We use for emergency backup power We have a seven-day supply or there of a diesel fuel on the basis great We're good for seven days providing those generators can run for 24-7 for a week And most backup generators end up conking out after a day or two But what happens on day eight when we run out of diesel fuel if there's no electricity out in town There's no way to pump that diesel fuel. We're probably not going to be able to resupply Same with natural gas we have natural gas generators on our bases that natural gas pipeline comes from off base that pipeline is vulnerable It's got to be self-contained Renewable generation is the best way to do that So the more generation we can put on our bases from generation battery storage and efficiencies because every efficiency we get is that much Less power generation we need so that one's closer To full resilience. So just to reemphasize renewable energy Energy efficiency is critical to the capabilities of the army and it's going to enable us to win future wars Thank you, Paul. That was great. Our second panelist today is Jake gentle Jake is program manager infrastructure security Idaho National Lab Jake thanks for making your way east to join us today. Hey, thanks, Dan So I'm gonna read you a couple of things. I've captured throughout the day. I think it's been an excellent set of discussions and opportunities to Really elevate the criticality of this conversation. So again, thanks for inviting me Making my way out east from Idaho. I'm proud to say I am from Idaho spent my time here in DC Back in 2014 15 and 16 Headed back home. So I think earlier in the in the discussion today There's conversation around of be proud of where you're from and don't be afraid to stay there I have left but I went back. I think what's important to me is is maintaining that connectivity But again, you know, as I mentioned Idaho National Laboratory We are the lead a nuclear energy laboratory And what I would say is our vision is our vision statement is very much in line with this panel and I'll read it to you Here so our vision is to change the world's energy future and secure our nation's critical infrastructure seems very fitting for a panel like like today the other thing I wanted to highlight to is a Lot of the statistics we've heard already throughout the day is Pointing us in the right direction. So I'm gonna repeat a couple of those maybe add Some color to maybe the global mix. So in 2022 global electricity generation from wind and solar was around 12% nuclear About 10% here in the US Wind 10.2% in 2022 solar 3.4% hydro power 6.2% and Nuclear making up that consistent about 18% So one thing I want to note is I think we heard earlier is a tripling and transmission infrastructure is needed between now and pick your date 2035 I think I've also heard that there was Solar is expected to triple by 2028 So if you think how much work we have ahead of us just in those two categories, I think the the opportunity is there We also heard recently. It's an opportunity to be here In this time in which what we're embarking upon Well, one major emphasis I want to make is to ensure that we are enabling clean energy to be part of the continued national security mission Doing things right from the start. So it takes time and effort to pivot our generation fleet I think what we're trying to do is ensure that we're doing it in a secure and resilient way We've got a lot of existential threat Happening upon us every day. One thing we want to make sure is we're resilient to those disruptions Now whether we look at it from a distribution system a transmission system even residential or microgrid applications for an operating basis I think we want to make sure that we are Ensuring that our infrastructure must reliably and I'll underline that reliably provide for us energy needs So reliably reliably or reliability Sorry is is kind of something I want to underline through continued cyber informed engineering best practices Public-private partnerships and one of those examples that I'll offer One of the earlier panelists from the solar energy industries association is I and Ellen and see a partnered up to develop what we call secure renewables It's now in our second year. We just completed that workshop In in April and that's really to bring two groups together Renewables clean energy community and those who are in charge with securing our nation's infrastructure cyber security experts So that's kind of a new formulation of opportunities I remember in 2018 even with ACP we partnered up to put together one of the first Cyber security panel sessions for the the American Wind Energy Association at the time So at the end of the day what we're trying to kind of articulate is we can't do this alone I think we have to do this in combination with public private partnerships private and public alone, but at the same time allow new Organizations to to show up and fill in gaps one of those is that new clean energy security coalition Something that I think is important. They represent a great group and it's kind of building out as they go underway So the time is now put security into practice I think that's my undertone is put it into practice and we can't wait I think we have to start now We really need to foster the secure by design mindset because that because what's ahead of us like existential threats We'll require proactive security and resilience planning Thank You Jake our third panelist today is Jennifer Schaefer Jennifer is the executive director of the federal performance contracting coalition Jennifer always great to see you Thanks for being on the panel today. We'll turn it over to you. I never know partnerships Partnerships though. I loved what you talked about public private partnerships. Yay I represent the FPCC is among other things I'm very involved in energy efficiency policy But the FPCC is made up of energy service companies who do do work with the federal government They're on master contracts to basically have hunting license to go out and do work with the federal government a Lot of work the Department of Defense, so I will definitely be Riffing off of some of what Paul talked about But I you guys did hear if anybody was here at the beginning of the day You heard a little bit about performance contracting from Brian Krug Who was on the very first panel of the day, but just as a quick in a nutshell in an ESPC an energy service company like a Siemens a Amoresco train they Go to a facility help develop a project that's focused on Making the the base of facility more resilient secure and more efficient They do they get the financing to do the project so costs nothing incremental to the federal partner They install everything they hire subcontractors They enter into a long-term contract to get paid back over time from energy savings and They also measure and verify those savings every year make sure they're occurring And they guarantee that the savings will occur. So it's a real nice way for the feds to get more For nothing except their utility bill right they paid a hundred bucks the utility before they enter into the ESPC They pay 60 bucks the utility they pay the ESCO 38 bucks and they keep two dollars until the end of the contract then they keep all the dollars So that's how they work. I know this is a resiliency panel not an energy savings performance contracting panel but my point is as We get more involved in more when cybersecurity and resiliency are are much more Necessary and of interest how can we use performance contracting to do that? Everything we do now as a ESPC in an ESPC and a UESC utility contract We have to have it be cyber secure. That doesn't necessarily pay for itself through energy savings But we have enough energy savings from all those great efficiency provisions that we've got in the in the package to make that work Resiliency also can pay for itself and oh by the way energy efficiency is resiliency and Paul mentioned that which I really appreciate But I guess the point I wanted to make is as we try to get sort of fence to fence Resiliency how do we have backup power that really does last more than a day or two because he's not wrong Those things are crapping out on us pretty early in the process many of them So we've got to make sure we have the resiliency. We think we have How do we get more for less? One way is to use the appropriated dollars that we have now and there is money in the system to Leverage more with performance contracting case in point the energy resilient Ursin program energy resiliency and conservation investment program. It's a milk on program. It's very focused on resiliency It's about five hundred fifty million dollars today for this year 2024. I guess Very focused on buying resiliency getting those micro grids on our bases great. We need to do that You could probably use less of those Ursin dollars in connection with the performance contract where you get maybe a smaller micro grid and You supplement it with more micro grid that you get from a performance contract That's paid for by those energy savings that are accrued over the long term So you can see how we can leverage the dollars that are available today to really make a difference There are other dollars available today. Thank you to Congress. Thank you you guys have appropriated money starting in 2019 for the affect grant program It's a DOE grant program that leverages performance contracting about 40 to 1 leverage That's 40 bucks from the private sector for every dollar the feds pay We like that. It's good for the taxpayer That money also there was additional funding in the IJA for that program So there are dollars you can use operations and maintenance dollars to leverage more in a performance contract The GSA has money and importantly energy service companies can monetize the investment tax credits For the federal government federal government does not have the ability to get them like we have ways now of the IRA that allows state and local governments to Take the credit that's cannot just take the credit But an escrow can on behalf of the federal government and pass through those savings So there's lots of ways to pay for that resiliency. That's so important And that's all for me. Thanks. Thank you, Jennifer Our fourth panelist is Jeremy Harrell Jeremy is chief strategy officer at Clear Path Jeremy. Welcome to the panel Great to see you. Awesome. Great to see you too, Daniel I really appreciate it and really appreciate the EIS team for inviting me and you know as a former Senate energy staffer I always enjoyed this this summit and and it's great to be on the other side of the panel now Here at Clear Path for those of you who may not know Clear Path at the onset We're DC based advocacy and research organization focused on policies that accelerate Technological innovation to reduce and remove global emissions and I want to just go to score the global component of that So effectively we're a climate organization and we're looking to take on the the global energy challenges needed to meet the globe's energy security and climate change Needs and moving forward and and so that global component and the way we view the US and where we think US policy should be Steered is the US's role as an early mover as a Helping world who's leading on these technologies and leading on climate action and then second as as a technology provider to the globe We have a robust research development demonstration apparatus in this country department of energy our Academic institutions American entrepreneurship the the power of private finance and and in the private sector in this country that truly can lead both our energy transformation here in the US and in the global energy transformation and Fortunately, Congress agrees with that vision as well We've seen over the last five years really significant public policy driving towards those means a lot of attention has been given to the IRA the inflation reduction Act But really four big bills over the last five years that have gotten across the finish line three of them That have been bipartisan. They're making investments on that very thesis The US should lead both as an early actor and as a global technology provider And so the energy act of 2020 the very end of the the Trump administration Big bipartisan legislation at the time was maybe one of the single largest investments in clean energy since the energy act of 2005 the infrastructure bill that led to to more than 62 billion dollars of investment in public-private partnerships The chips and science act that really looked to to drive and invest in our supply chains and then Tax incentives established by the inflation reduction act at the end of last Congress And so I think it's really important for a couple areas as we think about that from think about resiliency as a whole one Over the last five years, we've made a strong as a country made taking the position that we're going to invest in these Technologies and the supply chains here at home And so a big focus on on the incentives as well as the Department of Energy public-private partnerships on how do we ensure that we We maximize the impact for American manufacturing. How do we lead in next-generation manufacturing? I think it's really important piece of the puzzle as we think about the supply chain You know, we've been talking a lot about critical minerals lately And so it's been a big a focus here on on Capitol Hills We look at how do we source materials that we need for this clean energy Transformation and there's really some telling statistics out there that you know, the US is reliant on 12 of the 50 quote-unquote critical minerals the government has established almost a hundred percent reliant and and over 50 percent Reliant on another 30 of those and China is the leader and in 30 plus of those and so how do we develop more here? How do we innovate so we need to use different resources to produce these projects? And how do we you know partner with our allies abroad to meet our needs and then secondly? I think that's been really important over over the course of those five bills has been the investment in Resiliency technologies whether that's grid technologies whether it's Reducing energy consumption with efficiency whether it's direct investment in in firm flexible generation as a whole More energy storage and and those big energy bills They've gotten across the finish lines have have tried to catalyze demonstrations in new long-duration storage programs in particular like a long-duration DOD Storage program that recently was launched the energy storage grand challenge at DOE the advanced reactor demonstration program at DOE It's demonstrating new new nuclear designs and even a big enhanced geothermal systems Demonstration the DOE has launched it in the geothermal office as well These are technologies that we know we're going to need to meet our long-term energy needs economically and from a secure standpoint and are really what is demanded Across the globe as we ramp up Renewable generation which is a really important piece of the puzzle as well And so I think you know as we look towards into the year here in Congress I think you're going to continue to hear those type of themes whether it's the NDA on the floor and the Senate over the next Couple weeks looking at how do we improve resiliency invest in micro grids? Do more storage and and even maybe source a micro reactor for for a base the permitting reform debate has been really focused on that How do we how do we build at the pace needed to meet what could be a doubling of the capacity of the US grid? And so I think it's a really ample spot for bipartisan policy agreement We've seen that over the last five years across multiple different political machinations if you will and I'm confident We're going to continue to see it because of the strong leadership But we've seen from folks like senator Crapo senator Reed and others. Thanks Thanks Jeremy. That was great So to kick off our discussion I'm going to stand up so that I can see the audience if anyone has any questions We will gladly call upon you And Georgia is in the back with our she's our microphone wrangler for this panel So but to get us to get us started Renewable energy and energy efficiency contributes to national security I think Paul you laid that out very clearly at the beginning and many of you have sort of reinforced that idea that They also it also contributes to resilience, but there's lots of different types of resilience There's community resilience. There's infrastructure resilience. There's grid resilience. There's supply chain resilience And I'm curious sort of from your different perspectives and Paul perhaps we'll start with you and then we can go down through the line You know, how do investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency? Sort of as a resilience play How do those bubble up in your eyes to contribute to overall sort of US national security sort of higher level national security? Well in a contested homeland what's we are in as I stated if the insulate You can no longer really separate the operational side from the installation side when I was a young Navy lieutenant You know, we didn't care about the installation stuff that was happening. It's like oh, whatever I'm gonna go fly my helicopter and I don't care what happens on the base but that's The senior commander the operational commanders no longer can separate themselves from the installation But the war starts here. The war doesn't start in some European or some Asian battlefield the war starts here in this country You know at a Fort drum or Fort Cavesos or JBLM. That's where the first shots can be fired and that's where The forces have to be able to generate and operate from Look if the installation is not working The forces aren't getting to the battlefield And it's you mentioned community resilience and I want to kind of touch on that as well Particularly for the army and for the military Anyone that's been on a military installation knows there is no difference between the military installation and the community They're one in the same our people live in the community their kids go to school in the community They shop in the community their neighbors in the community if the community isn't working then the installation is not going to Be able to work. We've been talking a lot about electricity look we can make our Installations 100% resilient, but if the grid goes down and the community is not tied into that installation and the resilience The grid might the installation might be bright and warm and lit up like a Christmas tree But if the community is cold and dark, how much do you think the soldiers are going to be focused on their mission when their Spouse and their kids are at home alone in the dark and in the cold and with no running water or heat That's going to be a problem and also the civilians every civilian that works on our installation You know thousands and tens of thousands on some of them. That's what makes the installation operate That's what makes you know the planes be able to take off carrying the forces that gets The roads fixed and everything operating on the base without that civilian workforce the installation doesn't run and again If the community isn't working then they're not going to be able to get to the installation So it all kind of it ties together everything whether it's the community Resilient community resilience the installation resilience it all fight it all contributes up to that Larger war what's the that old poem for one of a bullet the battle was lost? And it goes all the way down to for one of a now or for one of whatever it starts It's in installation if that's not working Doesn't matter how well-trained the 82nd airborne is if they can't get to the battlefield Then the war is lost Hope everything is okay Jake From your perspective how to sort of different forms of resilience sort of bubble up to national security. Yes I'll start with knowledge. I think our previous was a previous session talked about Workforce training workforce development The engineering answer is it depends And so in order for you to have pure resilience metrics You need to be informed of what you're trying to defend yourself from or what you have actually as an asset to defend So when I think about resilience metrics, I think about knowledge first I think we have to be informed. I think one of the earlier questions from the day was as a homeowner, how do I know how to Who to go with from my installation on my rooftop solar my energy storage my energy efficiency program How do I interpret my utility bill in order to be resilient? I think you have to be knowledgeable. So that's that's the first thing is to start with some knowledge of what it is You're trying to be resilient for and against Same thing with remote and rural communities. It may not have the connectivity needed to be resilient another comment from earlier was Getting access to those remote and rural communities so that they have the ability to be restored quickly because if you don't know You're out of power if the host or the use servicing utility doesn't know you're out How do they know to restore you? The other thing too is is for our operating bases and other locations We work a lot with the US Army Central Command looking at specific locations And we we start here a lot of times with some of those technology demonstrations and innovation So that when we know that after it's deployed in operating bases that those technologies are going to work together So to be resilient you have to be interoperable Not only from the control system and be a secure control system But also for those who have to repair and maintain the systems not in all locations Do you have a host nation that's that's favorable to mention this? And so if we have the ability to be resilient against not only the attack, but also the lack of knowledge and how to repair and restore You know generators crap out. We've heard that too. So how do you be resilient? You have to know how and so then you also have to know what you're being resilient against And Jennifer you I'm sure can draw upon sort of very specific examples of this but From you know investments in energy efficiency specifically and contributing to to resilience Well, I think resilience is so many different things to so many different people and I guess I don't want to get into Definitions, I mean yes, it's resilience against weather events climate. It's resilience in our grid. It's resilience in our community It's the resilience of the human spirit As Paul talked about it's resilient in our bases. I had somebody at DOD tell me well We need to be resilient because we want the ability to take a punch and punch back. Okay, that's one kind of resilience another kind is Oh, I've got water coming over the walls at my fort at my Navy base over here in Norfolk. All right That's some resiliency gonna have to happen. So there's a lot of different kinds of resiliency what I want to I think the point I want to make is However, you address that resiliency Whatever you need to address that resiliency Efficiency should be a part of it because you don't want to overpay or over build Right. Yes, we might need to double our electric grid in the future. Golly. I hope not I know we're electrifying a lot of things but if we get serious about energy efficiency and reducing our demand Then we can reach that resiliency. We can have a fully operational grid with redundancy without you know Having renewables built Every every everywhere love renewables. We install renewables We need more renewables by a long shot, but we also have to pair that with efficiency. We heard that on the first panel as well today Jeremy Yeah, I think we've gotten a little bit of a warning sign on this and how it bubbles up over the last year and a half Particularly with the war in in Ukraine and Russian aggression there and how that disrupted global energy markets I mean the globe has has greatly benefited from the the nature of global energy markets and the interconnectedness of Global supply chains particularly on the affordability side and the US has benefited significantly there with it with affordable electricity prices And we see that like the national security risks are not just here at home In the end we saw a massive disruption that occurred As as the globe tried to react to Russian aggression in Ukraine Europeans demanding You know new sources of energy US LNG We're seeing the market radically change for things like advanced nuclear where European countries who had once turned away from nuclear technologies now are demanding US technologies and looking to partner with us to provide more more energy security Whether and and on the manufacturing side, we've seen that particular in particular I mean we saw in Germany in the UK Germany had to to basically ramp down 90% of their aluminum production at a disruption point Shortly after after the invasion because they didn't have fuels needed there and so the investment that we're making here in the US to try to catalyze new technologies to provide clean energy and to to ultimately invest in supply chains that may not be reliant on more earth scant resources or Resources that we're more we're relying on folks like the Russians or or the Chinese on I think is is really important And it's it's a delicate balance of how do we invest in the right way to to to maximize Economic opportunities of the the global energy market, but also protect our own interests and provide some resilience both to the to the US economy into our national security I Think we have a question in the back of the room We're sort of in the back of the room Thanks, um so the army has a goal to have microgrid on every installation But the army modernization strategy Notes that we need some significant research and development in order to make this happen So I was wondering if you guys could talk about what you think the key lines of effort in terms of research and development are To me both the microgrid and larger military energy security goals. I usually preface my talk with I'm not the technical expert I'm the R&D. I'm not sure to be honest. I I'm not the technical expert I do know that the technology is there already and it's good enough that Microgrids do work. We have a new tactical microgrid standard that we put out in January for our contingency bases and forward operating areas We are putting microgrid. We've already got at least a dozen micro grids on installations We've got another 25 or so Scheduled to be going in over the course of the next year or so and then another 50 that are in the planning stage So I'm not sure about the R&D part about what else would be required But they I do know that they're the technology is there and the army is moving forward fast and putting them in I Hope that answers your question Jeremy and others please feel free to chime in as well. Thanks for the question Yeah, I had three key areas that I think that have been Have come out of some of these the big policy that's come out over the last couple years It's really been focused on this The energy act and the infrastructure bill funded a long duration storage partnership between the the DOE and DOD Particularly at facilities that are ramping up renewables as their source of electricity How do we get at this challenge of how do we store not electricity every four hours or six hours? But like deal with the fluctuations with seasons weeks monthly Neals I think that's going to be really important Especially as this military becomes more reliant on our renewable power and then two things on the nuclear side I would highlight Alton Air Force Base in in Alaska are actually doing a procurement for a micro reactor to meet their Electricity needs there really exciting program there that a handful of US companies are looking to compete for that Facility has significant national security implications has a need for for 24 seven clean energy and and obviously the Alaska environment has some additional needs and and then as we look at for deployments, there's a there's a project called project paylay, which is a Transportable micro-reactor now the Idaho team has been working quite a bit with with the awardees on that and that's trying to get at I'm reducing the need for for diesel transportation and things along those lines and in for deployments Which is one of the the signature causes of casualties related to our fuel sources that are operations, which I think An interesting way to try to get at that and tackle it So those are the type of our D&D programs that they're least I'm familiar of moving on that I think could directly impact the mission that you're you're asking about Jake or Jennifer do you have anything you'd like to weigh in or add Yeah, so one one thing I will say is I think to the army specifically we spend a lot of time working on different bases my 15 years at Idaho National Laboratory have been to many both Army, Navy, Air Force, etc And I'll say each one of those locations has a different challenge. They have a different mission. They have a different set of resources different interaction or different relationship with the community or the host utility if you now go overseas that even Makes things even more complicated. So when I say my next statement It's not that the technology doesn't exist today to advance us to where we need to go It's just there's a lot of elements in here where cyber security standards There's a process called the risk management framework There's one of those opportunities to be followed and understand how to how to post yourself with the best knowledge You have today against some of the threats of tomorrow and some of them are today But also supply chain So it may not be a pure research and development challenge to deploy micro grids or clean energy technologies on military bases But do we know exactly where those technologies are coming from? What's the firmware loaded on each one of those assets? Do we understand how the interoperability between inverter based resources and other types of technology as we make that transition? Do we know how those are going to work together? Do we have the appropriate training? Think about Military personnel how often do they move around quite frequently so that institutional knowledge of how to operate that asset on base Sometimes leaves before it even operates. So I during construction in terms of operations people who are there then may not be there tomorrow So I think when I think of research and development, it's not from a pure technology only perspective It's it's how do all these pieces work together one thing I can say is Department of Defense very specifically has leveraged the energy savings performance contracts UESC is all the other acronyms that you can define But I would say that DOD has done an excellent job of putting those forward and ensuring that they're working in hand-in-hand with Communities and you know local utilities to ensure when they go to a microgrid if they're not degrading the resiliency For me personally operating my my house or my my neighborhood Sure, I could figure it out. I'm an engineer my backgrounds power engineering Control systems, but I certainly would not put all that trust in my hands on a daily basis because I've got other jobs I've got two daughters home. They like to play t-ball and softball I certainly can't operate a microgrid like my utility can that I pay every month. So that's another element that I would say Ensure trust is there between the partners and that research and development isn't just pure technology needs And I'll just mention that yes, there are still R&D needs particularly for that long-term storage but this point about Operating the systems. These are complicated systems and often what you find on a military facility Unfortunately is the guy who's the energy manager is also in charge of the keeping the grounds you know the the lawns cut and The garbage situation and a whole bunch of other stuff and so as we get these more Complicated micro grids nuclear reactors for goodness sake honor military facilities the energy service companies provide that long-term Operations maintenance expertise repair and replacement costs. They do all of those types of things So that's another real benefit to that public-private partnership. We talked about Thanks, that was a great question really great responses. Thanks for everybody chiming in on that. That was really cool We have a question up here in the front and then I think we'll probably You'll probably get the last question of the panel. So go ahead. Okay, big pressure Appreciate the panel. Obviously as we're electrifying everything. This is great. We're making things more resilient More efficient as things are getting more complicated on the grid certainly with bringing more evs on And now seeing more distributed energy resources like batteries and all these other things coming on We're also having AI and other applications to help manage all these very complicated resources better How do we make sure that we have good enough cyber security to handle all that going forward? And that we can keep up with the pace of these innovations on the security and the policy side Whoever would like to take that Jake, please go ahead and others feel free to weigh in excellent question I think I'll make two two points Probably not an answer, but I'll make make two points in response Is first off intellectual property I think One of the opening remarks that I wanted to make was some of our nation's greatest assets are people And it's that intellectual property that they developed that innovation that gets created Um, I think we have to stay on the track that we're on but also not forget that we have to be innovative To things we don't even know about we're also building tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning That maybe puts us in a position where We are informing a system that we may not understand quite yet There's a lot of interoperability between control systems that we don't necessarily know how they operate To all layers of the machine learning process And so when we think about cyber security We've got to have a we've got to have a standardized approach But does not mean that a standard We'll solve the question that you had yes, we need to do better on standards We need to do better on partnerships between vendors and communication protocols But I think we're what we're really What worries me the most I would say to help not answer you but maybe Make your question a little bit more difficult to answer is We are not informing the people who are trying to solve those problems at a fast enough pace We don't have enough people working on cyber security full stop All right, um other comments I'm not going to disagree with anything jake said, uh, it is definitely an issue As we're putting 21st century technology on we're electrifying everything. It's just getting more and more high tech And You know jennifer wasn't wrong either when she was talking about the energy managers Our installations have been traditionally underfunded Across the services people would rather fund and buy aircraft carriers and fighter jets and battle tanks rather than putting Money into the installations. We've seen that as a result. Everyone sees in the news the problem with barracks Across the services moldy rooms poor conditions the soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines have to live in We're addressing that problem. We're finally, you know, secretary warmeth has acknowledged We need to actually fund the installations. Um, and like I said As that line between the operations and the installations Grays out and eventually disappears Um Senior commanders i've had three star generals come and tell me look don't give me another tank give me this funding for the installation You know, that's the division commander saying that Um, they're they're seeing where it's coming together We've got to and on You know if installations are the traditionally underfunded part of the military Garrison staffs are the traditionally underfunded part of the traditionally underfunded installations DPWs have been cut to the bones our energy managers. Like Jen said, they're gs12 Those are the people that are going to manage this high tech energy systems. They don't get paid a whole lot of money They have 17 other jobs to do sometimes energy managers a collateral duty How are we going to do that? We've got to look at how we pay and train and retain our garrison staffs and realize that We've got to invest in the installations and the people on the installations because They're a critical part of the battle strategy It's not just the soldier on the front line because the soldier's not going to get to the front line without the people back At home getting them out the door. So we do work close to a cyber. We've got the cyber office Is actually right down the hall from my office Their team is in with us regularly whenever we're talking about this stuff as we're talking about the putting ev chargers onto the installations They were sitting at the table working with us. How are we going to do that? You know the dumb chargers are easy, but the smart chargers which for povs We've got to be able to do how are we going to do that and then the solar The microgrid connections the battery store. It's all of it So yes, it is a big challenge. We are aware of it Not quite sure how we're going to solve it yet I don't want to just complicate things and I will say that each of the services is working on sort of Cyber security protocols. So when they do have think you know smart Everything integrated into the grid. They're thinking about What are the protocols? What's the two there? They're all building test facilities and you got to certify this and certify that and that's all terrific But it's not standard Every base is different. We talked about this every base needs something different have different resources So almost all of it has to be individualized for bases So while we're trying to you know deal with that in a comprehensive manner It still ends up being not as comprehensive as we might like and always changing Jeremy even if you don't have a response to the question if you'd like to have the last word on the panel I feel like you you I don't want to leave you out. So No, I would just reinforce like these are all Major challenges that we're going to have to tackle over over the coming decades And I'm encouraged by the the really strong bipartisan support that we've seen over the over the last couple congresses in this space um, I mean there's been four or five occasions where legislation getting across the finish line would have been the most significant bill since 2005 or 2007 or the 2007 bill And so we've really seen I think we take for granted the influx of energy policy that has gotten across the finish line in recent years And so and I think it's going to be required because as folks underscore like The the conditions on the ground and in the global markets are changing rapidly And so for the u.s. To lead we're going to be have to be nimble and and ready to to hop invest and seize in opportunities and in and in solving some challenges that we we have to tackle to Really ensure our competitiveness And sorry to the panel we had a little noise back there, but I'll assure you it's all in service of getting the reception set up So I can confirm that there's a bar set up So sorry about that, but hopefully it's worth it. Um, paul jake jennifer and jeremy Thank you so much for joining us today. I think they deserve a great round of applause for their great comments