Case Study: MCRD Parris Island achieves 75% energy demand reduction and a resilient 10 MW microgrid with Ameresco

MCRD Parris - Customer Case Study

MCRD Parris, the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island, faced aging central energy infrastructure across an 8,095‑acre campus and needed a more reliable, secure, and cost‑effective energy supply. In 2015 they selected Ameresco under an ESPC to modernize the installation’s energy systems using combined heat and power (CHP), solar PV, battery energy storage (BESS), microgrid controls, and broad efficiency upgrades (lighting, HVAC, water, and steam systems).

Ameresco replaced the end‑of‑life steam plant with a 3.5 MW natural‑gas CHP, installed 6.7 MW of PV (1.6 MW carport + 5.1 MW ground), a 4.0 MW/8.1 MWh BESS, a microgrid control system with fast load shedding, and comprehensive efficiency measures in a $91.1M ESPC. The project yields roughly $6M in annual energy savings, captures over 1,120,000 kWh of excess PV (cutting curtailment from 23% to 11%), delivers ~10 MW onsite generation, reduces utility demand by ~75% and water use by 25%, and avoids about 37,165 metric tons of CO2—while Ameresco assumes long‑term O&M and R&R for the installed measures.

MCRD Parris

Daniel T. Magro

NAVFAC EXWC ESPC Program Lead