The objective of this Topic Area is to seek demonstrations and deployment of innovative technologies that enhance the energy and water security on our installations and improve the energy and water efficiency of Department of Defense (DoD) buildings. Improving the resilience of our energy and water systems in support of mission assurance is a broad objective that encompasses secure and reliable energy generation and delivery, efficient energy components and systems, cyber-secure devices and control systems, flexible system design, effective operations and maintenance, and integrated planning for future energy requirements and consideration of vehicle and equipment electrification. Current and anticipated areas of interest for technology demonstrations include the following: 

Secure and Reliable Energy/Water  

Technologies and solutions are needed to enhance energy and water resilience by improving the security, reliability, and flexibility of energy and water production and delivery on and within DoD installations. DoD installations range in size from a few buildings on less than 10 acres to hundreds of buildings and over 1 million acres, with a variety of mission requirements for energy and water. Incumbent systems range from single building utility service to central plants with distribution infrastructure. White papers should focus on solutions that improve the security, reliability and availability of incumbent energy and water systems and components. Technologies and solutions should enable interoperability to reduce cost of design and integration, allow flexibility of project implementation, and maximize the use of existing on-site distributed energy resources (DER).  

Building Energy Efficiency 

Technologies and solutions are needed to improve the energy and water efficiency and reduce the operations and maintenance costs of buildings on DoD installations. DoD manages over 300,000 buildings on some 500 installations throughout the United States operating in all climate zones. Buildings range in size from 1,000 to 1,000,000 square feet with most of the building stock falling within 10,000 – 100,000 square feet. Incumbent building energy and water systems are varied and reflect equipment/systems used in buildings of similar size found the private sector. Technologies for consideration include: HVAC, lighting, building envelope, water heating, micro-CHP, control systems, and energy and water management tools.  

For FY26, ESTCP has issued seven topic areas for the Installation Energy and Water program area through a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) to the private sector as well as one topic area focused on solutions to improve technology transfer: 

• Energy Resilience on DoD Installations
• Digital Tools for Microgrid Design, Acquisition, and Lifecycle Management
• Solutions to Improve Energy Efficiency and Performance of DoD Buildings
• Moisture Control and Strategies for Improved Indoor Air Quality
• Systematic Approach to Window Retrofits in DoD Buildings
• Water Resilience on DoD Installations
• Building-Scale Water Reuse Technology Solutions
• Innovative Technology Transfer Approaches