Jay Villanueva, 58th Signal Battalion Power Coordinator/Project Manager, checks the system's touch-screen monitors, which allow operators to "drill down" and virtually view the status of any power plant component. (U.S. Army photo by Stephen Larsen.)

Power outages are virtually a thing of the past for Fort Buckner, Okinawa, satellite communications (SATCOM) facility Army communicators at Camp Zama, Japan, thanks to the state-of-the-art powerhouse upgrades provided by the Project Manager Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (PM DCATS) and the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command/9th Army Signal Command (NETCOM/9th ASC).

“This is a key facility that allows multiple services to accomplish their missions,” said COL Edric Kirkman, 516th Signal Brigade Commander, during the ribbon-cutting at the new Fort Buckner powerhouse Feb. 7, 2006. “Many will never know the distance traveled by the electrons that travel through this facility.” That’s because the Fort Buckner facility is the SATCOM Standardized Tactical Entry Point (STEP) for U.S. Forces deployed over two-thirds of the globe, including Afghanistan, Germany, Bahrain, Hawaii, Guam, Japan and Korea. Through Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) satellites and the Fort Buckner STEP site, deployed warfighters can access pre-positioned Defense Information Systems Network services, including the Defense Switch Network (DSN), the Defense Red Switch Network, Non-secure Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNET), Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET), the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System and video teleconferencing.

LTC Maria Drew, 58th Signal Battalion Commander at Fort Buckner, said the new powerhouse supports connectivity for more than 35,000 employees of U.S. service components on Okinawa including the Army’s 10th Area Support Group, the Air Force’s 18th Wing; the Navy’s Commander Fleet Activities, Okinawa; and the Marine Corps’ III Marine Expeditionary Force.

The original Fort Buckner powerhouse, built in 1962 and modified over the years, had become less than reliable, expensive to run and increasingly difficult to maintain. “From an operational perspective, we grew extremely concerned that at any given time the power it takes to run this communications facility could fail,” Drew explained.

Jay Villanueva, 58th Signal Battalion Power Coordinator/Project Manager, added that the old powerhouse had multiple single points of failure that could crash the entire system. “The old system was inefficient and everything was manual. We had to manually start and sync the generators, and the way we had to do sequencing was damaging the circuit breakers.”

“We knew it was time for a new system,” remarked Randy White, the lead NETCOM/9th ASC engineer for the project, “when we had to ship a 500-pound circuit breaker back to California twice within a few months for repairs.”

One of the U.S. Army’s Best Power Plants
Drew said the new Fort Buckner power plant stands as “one of the most technologically advanced power plants in the U.S. Army inventory,” boasting quiet, fuel-efficient generators; microprocessor-based engine controls; touch-screen monitors; embedded diagnostics; and multiple layers of redundancy. It is capable of producing four megawatts (MW) of electricity, which is enough to power 2,600 homes in the United States for a year.”

The new Fort Buckner power plant stands as "one of the most technologically advanced power plants in the U.S. Army inventory." It is capable of producing enough electricity to power 2,600 homes in the United States for a year. (U.S. Army photo by Stephen Larsen.)

Fred Porzio, Project Leader with PM DCATS’ Product Manager Defense Wide Transmission Systems (PM DWTS), said the team began implementation during the second week of February 2005 and completed the project Dec. 4, 2005. “We installed all critical power plant equipment inside buildings. That’s an important consideration on Okinawa given that, on average, seven typhoons hit the island per year.”

Improved Emergency Backup Power
During phase one of the project, the team replaced the existing 120/208 volts alternating current (VAC) electrical distribution system with a 480 VAC system. They installed two new identical electrical power grids, A and B, providing redundant power for the Fort Buckner SATCOM facility, and four new 1-MW generators to provide emergency backup power. The A and B grids include main load distribution switchgear, multiple secondary 208 VAC step-down transformers, service distribution panels and automatic transfer switches (ATS) that provide transparent switching from commercial power to backup power and from the A to the B grid as necessary and a control monitoring system.

Also, as part of phase one, the team installed more than 3.4 miles of electrical distribution feeders overhead and in underground duct banks and a new 500 kilovolt-amperes (kVA) uninterrupted power supply (UPS) parallel redundant system to support the critical mission loads of other parts of Fort Buckner.

“The system provides 100-percent redundancy for all power with 99.99 percent reliability,” said Porzio. “Both the A and B grids are fully computerized, automated, and can sense and seamlessly transfer power with no interruption to the facility mission. If there’s a commercial utility failure or power outage, the power plant would instantly switch to power from the UPS and then the new backup generator sets will automatically spool and provide backup power to the SATCOM facility.”

“If the A grid were to go down, the system switches automatically to the B grid in a matter of milliseconds, transparent to the user,” added Villanueva.

“Without redundancy, we would fail to meet the DISN 99.99 percent availability requirement and we would put at risk the ability to provide mission support to commanders,” said Linda Bartosik of PM DWTS. “We would risk the on-demand, seamless connectivity that is essential to satisfy warfighting requirements at fixed and deployed locations.”

Villanueva gives high marks to the system’s touch-screen monitors, which allow operators to “drill down” and virtually view the status of any power plant component. “The touch-screen monitors graphically mimic the functions that a power plant operator could encounter with a traditional system. An engine control switch on the monitor looks, feels and acts like the engine control switches on a traditional system. Our operators are a lot more comfortable with the new power plant,” Villanueva continued. “With this new power plant, you push a button and it happens — there’s no uncertainty.”

In phase two of the project, the team upgraded Fort Buckner’s DSCS Space Command Satellite Control Station with new switchgears, two 300 kVA UPS and electrical feeder cables.

Critical Power for NIPRNET/SIPRNET at Camp Zama
PM DWTS teamed with NETCOM/9th ASC to provide a turnkey upgrade for critical backup power for NIPRNET/SIPRNET functionality and its environmental support systems for the 78th Signal Battalion at Camp Zama. They replaced the existing 50/60 hertz (Hz) 120/208 VAC electrical distribution system with a 50 Hz 480 VAC system. The installation, which started in November 2005 and was completed in December 2005, included a 500 kVA generator; a 160 kVA parallel redundant UPS system; and a new heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system for the power room and the NIPRNET/SIPRNET server rooms. Eaton/Powerware of Raleigh, NC, was the prime contractor.

Fred Porzio (left) and James Stamford, 78th Signal Battalion Deputy Plans and Operations Officer, check the UPS that backs up NIPRNET/SIPRNET functionality and its environmental support systems at Camp Zama. (U.S. Army photo by Stephen Larsen.)

The new system allows automated operations via the ATS/standby control system, and server rooms will never crash as a result of the equipment getting too hot or cold because the new HVAC system is supported by the new backup power system. The old HVAC system had no backup power. “We essentially provided the same capabilities here as we did at the Fort Buckner powerhouse, except on a somewhat smaller scale,” Porzio said.

Still, the product of that “smaller scale” is a design providing capabilities up to 50 percent greater than current requirements, allowing for future missions and expansion, according to LTC Mitchell Kilgo, 78th Signal Battalion Commander, which has the missions to provide command, control, communications and computers operations for the U.S. Army Japan’s LandWarNet and to serve as the Directorate of Information Management for the U.S. Army Garrison, Honshu, Japan. “We now have an environment with the ability to meet the requirements of a transforming headquarters, to expand and to provide robust capability to our users,” explained James Stamford, the battalion’s Deputy Plans and Operations officer. Stamford said the project’s main focus was to allow the relocation of the battalion’s local control center, which he called “the focal point for communications for all Army bases on Honshu,” and it will help the battalion stay in step with transformation under the Integrated Global Presence and Basing Study process. Stamford added that MG Elbert Perkins, Commanding General, U.S. Army Japan and the 9th Theater Support Command, was very impressed with the communications center’s capabilities and its ability to stand on its own in a time of crisis.

“Now, we’re never in danger of power failure and can run for as long as the generators have fuel. Everything else at Camp Zama could have a power crash and we could still run as a stand-alone facility — that’s what this project has brought to us, the capability to be a stand-alone facility,” Stamford concluded.