WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – Some employees on Area B can expect to have no power for 12 hours Oct. 13 as part of an Energy Resilience Readiness Exercise. The base Energy Management Office is pulling the plug beginning at midnight to test Area B’s resilience during a widespread power-grid outage.
“The exercise will separate the installation from commercial power and test how well critical missions can perform utilizing backup power resources,” said Dustin Hoehn, 88th Civil Engineer Group energy manager. “It helps to determine critical energy requirements, validate continuity of operations plans and identify infrastructure interdependencies. Exercising these procedures during a planned event helps the base be better prepared for real world situations.”
The Air Force Energy Office says ERREs are the best tool available to help installations assess mission readiness during a controlled denial of service.
Last year, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was one of six Air Force bases to conduct an ERRE. The first-of-its-kind event for the installation occurred on Area A and allowed the base to capture data and discover vulnerabilities to be better prepared for a real-world power outage.
“The 2021 ERRE was an overall success,” said Hoehn. “We did identify numerous mission and infrastructure gaps through the planning and execution phases of the exercise. Items identified were related to backup generation, HVAC, access control, fire suppression and communications.”
Hoehn added that some Area B facilities are exempt from the ERRE and that employees should follow their unit commander’s direction during the exercise.