REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- A team of technical experts focused on ensuring the reliability of utility systems and critical facilities under the National Command Capability (NLCC) Program and the Department of Defense (DOD) were recently recognized by the Federal Energy Management Program for procedural improvements saving taxpayer money.
The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville’s Power Reliability Enhancement Program (PREP) team won a FEMP project award for improving their processes on Black Start Exercises (BSE) for 2023 and saving over $1.7 million for the Army.
The BSE Program identifies and addresses energy vulnerabilities, with many recommendations immediately helping improve installation resilience in outages.
The PREP team developed and utilized a standardized process for exercise execution and documentation, saving exercise costs while producing quality, repeatable, actionable exercises and corrective plans.
The PREP team, consisting of Jack Beverly, Alexis Jones, Jay Jung, Saul Martinez and Andrew Stringer, was recently assigned under Huntsville Center’s Engineering Directorate to align with changes to Headquarters U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (HQUSACE) administrative policy.
Todd DuVernay, Engineering Directorate acting chief, said the re-alignment makes sense as the PREP matches some of the type of technical missions prominent at Huntsville Center.
“Their actions help advance energy resilience and security at military installations worldwide,” Duvernay said. “They align better with Huntsville Center because they are very specialized and support critical infrastructure that crosses boundaries.”
Unlike the traditional geographically based USACE organizations, Huntsville Center is not tied to water or other geographic boundaries. Instead, Huntsville Center provides specialized support to all the Corps' divisions and districts throughout the world.
Although the majority of Huntsville Center’s more than 1000 work force is located at the Center’s headquarters on Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, the PREP team will continue operations from offices located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Huntsville Center’s Medical Facilities Mandatory Center of Expertise is in Alexandria, Virginia and the Center’s Environmental and Munitions Center of Expertise operates from offices located in Omaha, Nebraska.
Col. Sebastien Joly, Huntsville Center commander, said the Center looks forward to welcoming the addition of the PREP Team to its ranks.
“The synergy between the PREP mission and its energy expertise aligns well with the mission of the Huntsville Center," Joly said.
| Date Taken: | 08.04.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.04.2025 12:57 |
| Story ID: | 544691 |
| Location: | HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 22 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Award-winning energy team re-assigned to Huntsville Center, by William Farrow, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
