A widespread power outage at a military installation could quickly affect the quality of life for tens of thousands of people, while also severely impacting readiness, communications, public safety and the ability to project combat power.
To help address this, the Department of Defense has ordered military installations to conduct a “Black Start exercise.” It involves shutting down power for at least eight hours to better assess gaps and vulnerabilities, thereby increasing long-term resilience.
We conducted our Black Start exercise at Fort Bliss in March 2024. Because our lessons may be useful for other installations – or cities, since military installations can resemble small towns – this piece attempts to consolidate some observations from our experience.
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The importance of comprehensive planning and coordination cannot be overstated. Our team began by studying the layout of our electrical grid, the architecture of the supply lines to various facilities, and how we believed these connections could impact critical plant functions. We have also refined our understanding of our backup power generation capabilities, our fueling plans and power plans.
We have consulted with local utility companies. We reached out to our commissary to understand his ability to maintain cold food supplies. We coordinated with Freedom Crossing – our shopping center at Fort Bliss – to understand how a power outage could impact commercial and dining options. This was in addition to coordination with numerous other entities and partners.
It quickly became clear that communication would be a crucial linchpin in an operation of this magnitude. Fort Bliss is the second largest installation within the Department of Defense, with an on-post population of more than 60,000 people and a total supported population of more than 170,000. We realized that we might be doing the right things, but if we couldn’t communicate our actions, our community could be left literally and figuratively in the dark. In extreme cases, the inability to communicate can even threaten people’s lives. If people did not know what to do with their life-saving medical equipment or refrigerated medications, or did not know how to drive through intersections without functioning traffic lights, this could lead to dangerous situations.
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We communicated tips early and often, through every conceivable means: a website in case of power outages; social media; town hall type events; kites; automated text messages; and more. They highlighted relevant advice, including the need to keep spare batteries and flashlights, the need to keep fridges and freezers closed, and what procedures to follow if childcare centers lose power.
We also communicated with our community in El Paso. We repeat that “El Paso is Fort Bliss, and Fort Bliss is El Paso.” At Fort Bliss, we are incredibly fortunate to enjoy the greatest, most positive community relationship I have observed during my military career. We sought to communicate our upcoming exercise with local news media, as well as at our Fort Bliss Community Summit, where we hosted officials from West Texas and southern New Mexico.
The exercise proved humbling in some ways. We realized we still had more to learn about our power grid. In the run-up to the exercise, we had carried out a local outage of selected feeders on a trial basis. We recognized that we would not be able to separate our privatized homes from the exercise given the overlapping, intertwined nature of our network; therefore, roughly two-thirds of our privatized homes should participate. But while we were fairly confident about certain aspects, we also realized that there were aspects that could cause surprises. Specifically, we learned that there were some connections between feeders and facilities that we had no idea about until the actual post-wide outage. Some backup generators failed and other generators performed better than expected.
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Our Black Start exercise required extensive preparation by many hardworking people, including invaluable support from Installation Management Command and Army G-9, along with clear and timely guidance from our Fort Bliss Commanding General, Major General James Isenhower.
The planning and support paid off. The prolonged power outage, which affected tens of thousands of people, passed off safely, without any injuries or traffic accidents.
The post-wide disruption provided an opportunity to better see ourselves as an installation and create conditions to increase our long-term resilience, while deepening Fort Bliss’ relationship with the beautiful city of El Paso. For all these reasons, we wanted to share our observations, especially if they could help other populated areas consider similar exercises.
Brendan Gallagher is a United States Army colonel who commands the United States Army garrison at Fort Bliss. He obtained a Ph.D. at Princeton, and is the author of The Day After: Why America Wins the War but Loses the Peace (Cornell University Press).
The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Black Start Exercise Involved Extensive Preparation: Brendan Gallagher
