What’s New
The Naval Postgraduate School selected Converge Strategies’ “Powering the Fight Lessons from the Grid at War” for publication at its 23rd Annual Acquisition Research Symposium, “Accelerating Warfighting Capabilities” — a defense research forum where researchers, policymakers, and practitioners shape how the U.S. military acquires, modernizes, and adopts emerging technology.
Why It Matters
The U.S. is currently experiencing unprecedented growth in civilian power demand, which is already testing the limits of our grid. In a contested environment, the power grid would immediately need to deliver uninterrupted electricity to domestic military installations while supporting a surge in wartime manufacturing that the country hasn’t seen in more than 80 years.
Lessons From History
The U.S. has been here before. In World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, the grid had to deliver more than it was designed for. Each time, the conflict catalyzed the coordination required across government, utilities, and industry to meet demand. The major conflicts of the last century provide a proven model for strengthening our power infrastructure in an accelerated, coordinated manner. “Powering the Fight” translates these lessons for policymakers, defense leaders, utilities, and grid operators to apply to the challenges facing the grid today.