Energy self-sufficiency of field camps has always been a goal of military forces and housekeepers. After all, logistics chains are vulnerable, complex and expensive. But given the austerity measures of recent decades, there has often simply been a lack of funds to set up appropriate research projects for the military on the necessary scale. The European Union launched a large-scale funding effort for energy self-sufficiency back in December 2019 with the Green Deal. However, the EU is only earmarking a total of €14 million for the Energy Independent and Efficient Deployable Military Camps (INDY) program, so it is a smaller research program.
The INDY industrial consortium is led by the Slovenian “TECES Green Tech Cluster” in cooperation with the Slovenian Ministry of Defense. The first contracts have now been awarded, one of them to Rheinmetall Project Solutions GmbH. Rheinmetall is leading two strategic work packages at INDY. Firstly, the area of specifications including an initial concept or architecture for energy-independent and efficient systems for field camps. Second, the elaboration and final specification of the energy architecture for deployable field storage systems and an outlook for the near future. “A significant improvement in energy balance is also achievable for military operations,” expects Dr. Deniz Akitürk, managing director of Rheinmetall Project Solutions GmbH. “Optimizing energy efficiency in operations places special demands on technological solutions. We look forward to using our capabilities and experience to support our customers’ sustainability goals.”
International cooperation
By participating in INDY, the company aims to play a key role in the construction of new military camps based on renewable energies and act as an integrator of new and proven technologies. In addition, the project offers insights into developments in other countries and opportunities to discover new partnerships. The countries participating in INDY with their institutions are:
– Slovenia: TECES Tehnološki center za električne stroje/Research and Development Center of Electrical Machines (coordinator), KOLEKTOR sETup, Univerza v Mariboru, Univerza v Ljubljani
– Belgium: CNV Consulting, John Cockerill SA
– Germany: Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Rheinmetall Project Solutions GmbH
– Estonia: CAFA Tech OU
– France: Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, Ineo Defense, Nexeya France SAS
– Greece: INTRACOM Defence
– Italy: Leonardo – Netherlands: The Netherlands Organisation for applied scientific research
– Norway: Austria: AVL List GmbH
– Spain: Equipos Móviles de Campaña ARPA, INDRA Sistemas, Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial Esteban Terradas
In addition, there are subcontractors from Bulgaria.
