Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center

Vandenberg Space Force Base is a 100,000 acre military base on the coast of Central California. It plays a vital role in the U.S. space launch domain with critical national defense capabilities. In order to increase the energy resilience of Vandenberg’s mission, an integrated program of short, medium and long-term projects is being implemented to allow Vandenberg to operate independently from the commercial electric grid via a process known as “islanding” using clean energy and storage technologies.

Projects underway include:

• 22 MW PV solar farm providing 100% of Vandenberg’s daytime power (in its 5th year of operation)
• 14 MW of Li-ion batteries supported by two microgrids (online in 2025)
• 50 Level 2 and Level 3 EV charging stations for Government Owned Electric Vehicles
• 60 MW of offshore wind energy (first floating wind turbines in the US, online in 2028)
  • Centered around repurposing a retiring offshore oil rig to marine renewable energy)
• 15 MW of clean energy generation (working with NREL and Argonne on technology and fuel type using green H2, ammonia or methanol)
• 5 Gwh of pumped storage hydroelectric (PSH) energy
• Intertie the Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison grids in the Vandenberg – Santa Barbara area

Bill Toman serves as the Energy Manager for the 30th Civil Engineering Squadron at Vandenberg Space Force Base.

He is responsible for energy management and for the development and execution of energy resiliency solutions for Vandenberg. Focused on improving operational strategies for existing systems and long range planning to incorporate energy resilience approaches and technologies in future construction projects.

Projects currently being facilitated include microgrid and batteries installation, implementation of a base-wide clean energy generator and DoD’s first offshore wind energy project serving Vandenberg.

His career has involved the project development of over 2,000 MW of gas-fired and hydroelectric power generation facilities in California, New Jersey, Texas and Ghana while at Fortune 500 industrials such as Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Calpine Corp, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), CMS Energy and Westinghouse Electric Corporation.

A California native, Mr. Toman holds an M.S. Degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and an M.S. Degree in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.