BG Workforce Solutions (BGWS) and Blue Ocean H2 LLC today announced a strategic partnership to bring advanced non-lithium electrostatic energy storage to the Department of War (DOW) and the federal government. Under the agreement, BGWS will represent Blue Ocean and distribute its technology across the defense enterprise.
The partnership addresses a basic problem for deployed forces: getting reliable power to the field. That power is heavy to move, dependent on fuel, and reliant on chemical batteries that carry safety and supply chain risk. Blue Ocean's ORCA electrostatic energy storage system is solid-state and non-chemical, with no thermal runaway risk and no cooling requirement.
The partnership gives the DOW a single path from award to operational power. ORCA technology reaches the field backed by the contract vehicles, program management, software, and trained workforce to install, operate, and sustain it at the point of work, all under DoD IL4 Authorization to Operate in GovCloud.
Demand has been immediate, with three efforts already in motion funded through the DOW's Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program.
The first two are micro-grid-scale power systems in Hawai'i, supporting advanced manufacturing and industrial operations at The Forge and at Honolulu Community College. Both build on the success of the advanced manufacturing program BGWS developed with Honolulu Community College, which gives the partnership a collocated pipeline of skilled technicians ready to operate and sustain the systems on site.
The third is a newly awarded contract to package Blue Ocean technology into an ISU-90 form factor and qualify those units for military transport. Qualification opens the door for the joint force to forward-deploy resilient power in support of expeditionary requirements, moving energy generation and storage forward with the units that need it rather than tethering them to fixed infrastructure.
Partnering with BG Workforce Solutions delivers a powerful combination of innovative energy storage technology and expert workforce solutions. Our ORCA ESS, paired with BG's training and deployment expertise, provides mission-critical power that is safer, more reliable, and fully aligned with U.S. national security priorities.
Jeff Voacolo, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner, Blue Ocean H2 LLC
Fielding a technology is only half the requirement, somebody has to install it, run it, and keep it running in the environments where it matters most. That's the work we've been doing for the defense industrial base, and it's why this partnership moves faster than a typical distribution agreement. Blue Ocean builds the hardware, we deliver it to the government and stand up the workforce behind it, and the customer gets one accountable partner from award through sustainment.
Kevin Beamish, Chief Operating Officer, BG Workforce Solutions
The partners expect to build on these initial efforts as the technology moves into broader defense and industrial use.
Bruce Fryer
bruce@futurepact.com
(202) 441-3115