HARKER HEIGHTS, Texas — Texas Governor Greg Abbott, in collaboration with the Texas Military Preparedness Commission, unveiled a significant investment of $15.4 million in funding awards for the Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant program.
The TMPC's Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant program, known for its competitive selection process, aims to enhance the military value of installations across the state.
The top-ranked project among the six selected for funding is the Railhead Energy Resilience initiative, sponsored by the City of Harker Heights. This project focuses on improving energy resiliency for rail operations at Fort Cavazos. The grant, totaling $5 million, will facilitate the conversion of one of Fort Cavazos' six locomotive engines from diesel to electric power propulsion.
This move enhances Fort Cavazos' capabilities, offering increased availability and a remarkable 60% reduction in annual operations costs, coupled with a 40% decrease in annual maintenance costs.
The project includes lithium-ion batteries providing 2.4MW of battery storage, ensuring emergency backup power for rail operations in the face of power loss due to extreme weather or adversary attacks on electrical infrastructure.
The total cost of the Railhead Energy Resilience project is $13.2 million, with Fort Cavazos contributing $7.3 million and a local cost share of $900,000 from Dominion Energy and the City of Harker Heights.
The project gained support from neighboring cities, including Belton, Copperas Cove, Gatesville, Killeen, Lampasas, and Temple, along with Bell County, Coryell County, and Lampasas County.