Solving Power Constraints for High-Stakes Aerospace Testing
By rapidly deploying an autonomous hybrid microgrid, Critical Loop was able to provide reliable power to an off grid rocket engine test facility
Total energy deployed
Installation
Increase in load capacity
Key Takeaways (TL;DR)
For an aerospace company working to make space transportation commonplace, rocket engine development and qualification testing are mission-critical to delivering an orbital vehicle platform that supports high-priority national initiatives. As testing scaled, the existing site infrastructure lacked sufficient power to support larger, more demanding test campaigns.
Critical Loop delivered a fully managed, off-grid power solution, integrating a battery energy storage system (BESS), AC combiner, and natural gas generator, to rapidly provide the required capacity without delaying test operations. The system’s reliability and seamless performance enabled uninterrupted testing.
Situation
The aerospace company faced a minimum six-month delay in a planned utility upgrade, leaving their second desert test site without sufficient power to conduct engine test operations. Without access to this facility, engine development timelines were at risk, threatening system deployments. To stay on track, the company needed a high-quality, reliable power solution that could be deployed quickly.
Solution
Critical Loop deployed a 500 kWh battery and a natural gas generator with our proprietary Combiner. Our autonomous Controller orchestrates these assets in real-time, providing automated fault tolerance and redundant failovers. By dynamically managing the generator’s duty cycle with regards to power consumption and battery power levels, the Controller ensures optimal fuel consumption and peak performance based on available site resources. The speed and reliability of our system led to an additional request and rapid installation of additional power assets on site.
Results
The ability to utilize this power constrained site enabled the aerospace company to conduct testing on flight hardware in a location otherwise unusable, accelerating their path to revenue. Solving hard problems efficiently is what Critical Loop does best.