USE CASE

Resilient and self-sufficient energy supply for armed forces properties 

Model-based assessment of energy security, self-sufficiency, and climate protection.

What TOP-Energy does for armed forces properties.

Military properties must remain operational even in the event of a failure of external energy sources. For sites with critical infrastructure, a secure, resilient, and as self-sufficient as possible energy supply is crucial to ensuring energy security and operational capability even in crisis situations.

TOP-Energy Features
01

Security of supply under failure conditions

Simulation of blackout, attack, and island operation scenarios for critical infrastructure and properties.

02

Evaluate technologies within the overall system

Integrated modeling and comparison of photovoltaics, storage, heat pumps, and hydrogen systems.

03

Time-resolved energy simulation

Analyze load profiles, storage behavior, and supply situations for every quarter-hour of the year.

04

Digital twin of the property

Model energy generators, storage systems, consumers, and grids in a transparent digital representation of the property.

05

Transparent scenario analysis

Compare supply security, self-sufficiency, and energy flows across different scenarios.

06

Transparently analyze conflicting objectives

Weigh security of supply, self-sufficiency, economic efficiency, and climate protection against one another in realistic scenarios.

Why a resilient energy supply is crucial for military properties

A secure and resilient energy supply is a key factor for operational readiness, deterrence, and sustainability. Especially at armed forces facilities with critical infrastructure, communication, analysis, and operational processes must be safeguarded even during prolonged disruptions or power outages.

Existing supply structures reach their limits when, in the event of a crisis, they rely primarily on external grids or temporary diesel emergency power supplies. This is precisely where simulation-based planning of resilient supply concepts comes into play.

Stylized aerial view of a military facility
TOP-Energy Benefits

Three Benefits for Military Facilities

01
Crisis-Resilient

Higher security of supply in crisis situations

TOP-Energy enables the simulation of blackout- and attack scenarios in order to realistically evaluate the supply of critical infrastructure even during grid outages.

02
Autonomous

Greater energy autonomy through renewable energy and storage

Photovoltaics, battery storage, heat pumps and hydrogen systems can be dimensioned in a way that significantly reduces dependence on external energy sources and diesel.

03
Reliable

Well-founded investment decisions

Comparing different supply concepts and scenarios creates a reliable basis for the strategic expansion of resilient energy infrastructures.

Challenge: Ensuring a reliable supply during power outages

To illustrate this use case, we model and optimize an example scenario of a typical militaryproperty in TOP-Energy—and compare various supply concepts under realistic crisis conditions.

Armed Forces properties today rely heavily on external energy supplies and the public grid. In the event of widespread power outages, critical areas would often be secured using diesel emergency generators, which in turn rely on a continuous fuel supply during prolonged crisis scenarios.

For sites with security-critical IT, server rooms, communication systems, or command and control support, this dependency poses a risk. Therefore, we are seeking supply concepts that function even in off-grid mode and can reliably safeguard critical loads.

Overview of the example scenario

The scenario examines a military facility with housing, security-critical IT infrastructure, and a vehicle fleet. It simulates a one-month power outage resulting from an attack on critical infrastructure.

Stored load profiles (per year)

  • Power demand for server room — 280 MWh
  • Cooling demand for server room — 250 MWh (high base load share, peaks in summer)
  • Additional power demand for property — 700 MWh
  • Heat demand for property — 2,000 MWh
Conventional power supply via the grid and diesel emergency power. The power requirement also includes refrigeration.

 

Current Situation

Electricity is supplied from the grid, and heat is generated by a boiler. The electricity required for cooling is factored into the electricity load profile. Diesel generators are on standby in case of a power outage—assuming that fuel is delivered every three days.

Solution: Digital Analysis and Optimization with TOP-Energy

With TOP-Energy, the property is modeled as a digital twin and simulated under realistic operational and crisis scenarios. The software analyzes the interaction of electricity, heating, cooling, and storage technologies and optimizes the energy supply with a focus on supply security and energy self-sufficiency.

Energy generators, storage systems, consumers, and grids are linked together using a diagram editor. These graphical models enable the comparison of various structurally different supply options. On this basis, different systems can be transparently compared and strategically evaluated. In doing so, conflicting objectives such as cost-effectiveness, sustainability, and resilience can be examined.

Solution (Option 2). Addition of solar panels, battery storage, and a heat pump.

Supply Options Considered in the Use Case

As part of the simulation, various supply options are compared to quantify their contribution to resilience, self-sufficiency, and security of supply.

Options

  • Current State — conventional energy supply with diesel emergency power.
  • Renewables + Storage — Photovoltaics (1 MWp), geothermal heat pump, and battery storage.
  • Expansion to include hydrogen systems — electrolyzer and fuel cell for additional backup during prolonged power outages and for mobile applications.

Battery sizes (varies)

  • 0 MWh — baseline without storage
  • 0.5 MWh
  • 1.0 MWh
  • 2.0 MWh

Simulated Scenarios

  • Normal Operation — no power outage.
  • Summer Attack Scenario — one month without grid power (July).
  • Winter Attack Scenario — one month without grid power (December).
  • Attack Scenario with Load Shedding — Shutdown of non-critical loads; IT continues to operate normally.

Results: Renewable energy sources increase the duration of operation

The simulation shows that simply installing the PV system reduces diesel consumption during a one-month summer outage from 394.8 MWh to 177.2 MWh—meaning only half the usual supply is required. With a 2-MWh battery storage system and load shedding, as much as 95.8% of the diesel is replaced in the summer.

Regardless of grid reliability, the battery pays for itself with just one megawatt-hour after only 4 years—so resilience here is not merely a cost item, but also economically viable.

The tables compare diesel consumption over a one-month power outage in July—once with all loads, and once with load shedding. Server room cooling continues unchanged in both scenarios; only non-critical loads are reduced.

Fuel Consumption in MWh — Power Outage in July

Data from TOP-Energy Simulation
Total supply without load shedding
With load shedding — IT prioritized
4003002001000
394.8
265.6
No PV+Batt
177.2
102.3
No Batt.
143.0
64.1
0.5 MWh
115.8
32.4
1 MWh
84.8
11.3
2 MWh

Fuel Consumption in MWh — Power Outage in December

Winter Case — Heat Demand Dominated
Total supply without load shedding
With load shedding
4503382251130
424.4
287.7
No PV+Batt
367.1
239.5
No Batt.
357.9
227.1
0.5 MWh
354.9
219.7
1 MWh
352.6
215.8
2 MWh
Diesel Substitution
(Summer, with Load Shedding)
87.9%

Medium-sized battery storage (1 MWh) + load shedding compared to the pure diesel baseline scenario.

CO₂ Reduction
During Normal Operation
> 60%

During regular site operation — through PV self-consumption, heat pumps and battery storage.

Amortization
PV + Storage
≈ 4 Years

Dynamic amortization (1 MWh) — independent of the strategic value of resilience.

Decarbonization and resilience go hand in hand

The systems featuring photovoltaics and energy storage have payback periods of approximately 4 years and extend the property’s self-sufficient operation by more than double. In addition, they reduce CO₂ emissions by more than 60% during normal operation.

They can compensate for outages in both the power grid and the gas network and bridge longer periods. In this way, TOP-Energy creates a robust basis for decision-making regarding resilient energy supply concepts in military properties—especially for security-critical systems such as server rooms, IT infrastructure, and central operational functions.

Hydrogen becomes strategically relevant in winter

In winter, PV generates little or no electricity over extended periods—while demand tends to be higher due to heating requirements. Overproduction of hydrogen from the summer PV surplus significantly extends self-sufficiency even in winter. This is precisely where the strategic value of hydrogen in the supply concept becomes evident.

Hydrogen as a Strategic Supply Option

With an overbuild of photovoltaic capacity and large-scale hydrogen storage on site, hydrogen offers strategic advantages over purely electrical storage due to its transportability and mobile usability.

TOP-Energy enables the transparent evaluation of costs, benefits and security of supply for different supply concepts — including the question of when hydrogen truly pays off compared to battery storage.

Resilience Level

Higher resilience through diverse energy sources

With battery storage, the facility is (n−1) secured, meaning that the failure of one component does not lead to a complete shutdown.

With an additional electrolyzer–fuel cell combination, an even higher level of resilience is achieved — both the grid and the battery may fail while the facility remains supplied.

  • Power grid outages can be compensated
  • Gas grid outages can also be bridged
  • Transportable energy carrier — suitable for mobile use

Duration of Operation Without Diesel Supply & Dynamic Amortization Period

Trend from the TOP-Energy One-Pager 2026 · Rounded values
Current Situation
3.0 Days
PV + 500 kWh
8.3 Days
PV + 1 MWh
10.2 Days
PV + 2 MWh
14.0 Days
PV + 1 MWh + H₂
> 90 Days
0481215

Interpretation: Duration of operation in days without additional diesel supply. Scale 0–15 days — the H₂ scenario lasts significantly longer and is truncated.

Services

Our Services for Authorities & Procurement Organizations

Tier 01

TOP-Energy Simulation Platform

Simulation and evaluation of complex energy systems — directly usable by your team. Model libraries for electricity, heating, cooling, storage and hydrogen.

Tier 02

Modeling & Scenario Analysis

Support for the modeling, evaluation and optimization of individual energy systems — from load profiles to scenario-based studies.

Tier 03

User-Specific Software Solutions

Customized applications for standardized analysis and evaluation processes.