Looks like the Navy is getting into the energy biz. Late last week, the Department of the Navy released a solicitation asking industry to develop “innovative, deployable energy solutions capable of powering Navy and Marine Corps installations with unmatched resilience, security, and reliability.”
The idea is to build super-rugged energy infrastructure that can provide power in “any operating environment” (read: way the heck out there on the edge.)
“We are calling on America’s most capable innovators to deliver advanced, installation-scale energy solutions, ranging from small modular nuclear reactors to cutting-edge storage and generation technologies that can deliver power with 99.9% availability, even if the public grid goes dark,” SecNav John Phelan said in a release.
Power up: In case you’re new around here, defense technologies from drones to electronic warfare to advanced sensors have all majorly changed the way that wars are fought—but they also require a heck-ton of energy. Companies we’ve covered before, including Chariot Defense, Oklo, and Radiant are developing systems to meet this need, but apparently the Navy wants even more.
According to the solicitation, the Navy wants prototypes that can ensure bases can “remain operational under any circumstances.” They encourage industry to focus on prototypes that:
- Modernize energy infrastructure—meaning they help make energy infrastructure at Navy and Marine Corps outposts advanced and resilient.
- Ensure “99.9% mission availability”—meaning they can sustain power even when the public grid goes out (or isn’t available at all).
- Can power the “high-demand” data centers needed to build and train advanced AI systems.
- Enable on-site energy generation, including everything from small nuclear reactors to geothermal systems to advanced battery storage tech.
- Are harder against everything from natural disasters, to cyber attacks, to the grid just shutting down.
- Are built using “innovative financing” and “alternative capital structures to accelerate deployment and reduce reliance on traditional appropriated funding.” In other words, they’re privately funded—not waiting around for DoD cash.
The solicitation is being issued through the Center for Energy, Environment, and Demilitarization (CEED) Consortium and is available exclusively to consortium members. Selected prototypes will be contracted using crowd-favorite Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs). In particular, the Navy wants solutions from both primes and nontraditional companies that “can be rapidly mobilized, require minimal permitting, and are ready for immediate execution.”
“Prioritization of operational resilience opens the door for technological leapaheads and outcomes-focused performers, instead of status quo incrementalism,” Navy CTO Justin Fanelli told Tectonic.
In with the new: The Navy has made a big push to bring in new and innovative tech using OTAs in recent weeks. In late July, it officially launched its “Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC)” program using the OTA pathway, which a DIU spokesperson told Tectonic was a game changer for the service.
“OTAs are critical here because they lower barriers for non-traditional defense providers and allow for flexible, iterative prototyping and follow-on production,” they said. “[Proliferation] across PEOs [program executive offices] is important to continue to scale commercial tech solutions and continue to expand the defense industrial base.”
OTAs have long been a handy-dandy contracting tool in the defense innovation toolkit, especially since the launch of DIU in 2016, but their use by program offices and the services is a whole new world.