In a project that fits with the Army’s 2022 Energy Action Month theme of “Power to Win,” Fort McCoy’s Directorate of Public Works (DPW) personnel teamed with Xcel Energy on a small gas line project in September 2022 to improve gas line resiliency and efficiency.

Brandon Gronau with the Fort McCoy DPW’s Operations and Maintenance Division Energy Branch said Xcel Energy worked on a project to connect two gas lines on Fort McCoy’s 8th Avenue and O Street.

“It’s a resiliency project that was suggested in the Installation Energy and Water Plan,” Gronau said. “Our current natural gas system is fed from one main and then looped in smaller sections around post. It’s like a tree. We have our trunk (main distribution line), and the branches (smaller loops).

The work on the project started approximately around Sept. 20. Work was completed near the Main Gate and in areas not too much farther away.

“This new section adds a second ‘trunk’ so that if something happens to the first we have a way of feeding the system a different way,” Gronau said. “It’s a tiny project, but the implications are pretty big.”

The Army observes Energy Action Month every October. Throughout the year at Fort McCoy, there are always projects and measures in place at the installation that reflect the goals of Energy Action Month, Gronau said.

Solar energy, for example, is one form of renewable energy that is incorporated throughout Fort McCoy, thus reflecting DOD’s strategy of “power to win.” Solar-power additions at Fort McCoy include pedestrian-crossing and stop signs with flashing LED lights.

There’s also solar collectors installed on several buildings on post. More than 70 latrines on the Fort McCoy Range Complex are powered or heated by solar photovoltaic panels as well as other systems that require low energy intake.

Gronau also said DPW staff members are always looking at ways that renewable energy can contribute to energy savings at Fort McCoy, DPW officials said. Though the use of solar power is not as widespread as other installations, it is part of many of Fort McCoy’s energy-savings initiatives throughout the post.

To learn more ideas about how to save energy, check the Department of Energy’s energy saver webpage at https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/energy-saver. And learn more about Energy Action Month in the Army by visiting https://www.asaie.army.mil/Public/ES/energyactionmonth.html.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”

Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base.