Travis AFB Tests 250 kW Generator That Runs on Six Fuels
- Microgrids Military & Defense News
Marin Holt
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- 6 minutes read
- U.S. Air Force awarded Mainspring Energy contract to install 250 kW linear power generator at Travis AFB, California
- Generator runs on six fuels: natural gas, hydrogen, propane, biomethane, syngas, and ammonia
- Contract awarded through Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace – Mainspring the first 'awardable' power generation provider
- 250 kW linear generator packages in a standard 8×20 foot shipping container
- Pilot measures fuel efficiency, power output, and emissions for each fuel type under base operating conditions
The U.S. Air Force awarded Mainspring Energy a contract in March 2026 to install a 250 kW linear power generator at Travis Air Force Base in northern California. The generator runs on six fuel types, natural gas, hydrogen, propane, biomethane, syngas, and ammonia, giving base operators fuel flexibility that diesel generators cannot provide. The contract was awarded through the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace, making Mainspring the first power generation provider on the platform to receive an “awardable” designation under Other Transactions Authority procurement.
What Mainspring’s Technology Does
Mainspring’s Linear Generator converts fuel to electricity through a low-temperature, flameless reaction. Unlike conventional combustion generators, it does not rely on a traditional ignition cycle. Instead, the process drives a linear alternator through controlled pressure changes, enabling the same hardware to accept any of six fuels without physical modification. The 250 kW unit packages in a standard 8-by-20-foot shipping container. The pilot scope covers fuel efficiency, power output, fuel consumption, and emissions measurements for each fuel type under live operating conditions.
The contract is a joint effort between the Air Force Office of Energy Assurance, the Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s energy directorate, and the 60th Civil Engineer Squadron at Travis. David Lin, 60th Air Mobility Wing Deputy Base Civil Engineer, said the demonstration is a direct response to the Department’s directive to increase flexibility and reduce single points of failure in mission energy infrastructure.
Why Fuel Flexibility Matters for Military Installations
Travis AFB is a major Air Mobility Command installation and strategic airlift hub. Natural gas infrastructure in California faces earthquake risk. Diesel supply chains degrade during extended regional emergencies. A generator that accepts hydrogen produced on-site or biomethane from local waste streams removes single-point fuel dependence without requiring hardware swaps. Kirk Phillips, Air Force Office of Energy Assurance director, stated: “A generator capable of running on multiple fuel types reduces vulnerability to fluctuating fuel standards, availability, or price shifts, providing resilience without the need for costly equipment replacement.”
Mainspring began commercial shipments of its linear generators in 2020 and has hundreds of megawatts in development across Fortune 500 companies, data centers, and utilities. The Travis AFB pilot positions the technology for broader Department of Defense adoption if performance data across all six fuels meets Air Force standards.
Critical Perspective
A 250 kW generator capable of running on 6 fuel types addresses a genuine military resilience requirement, but the operational complexity of maintaining 6 distinct fuel supply chains at a single installation is not a minor logistics detail, it is the core test this pilot needs to answer. Mainspring’s linear generator converts fuel through low-temperature thermoacoustic combustion with efficiency claims validated in commercial settings; sustained performance across all 6 fuel types under military duty cycles at Travis AFB has not yet been independently published. The Air Force distributed generation pilots at Nellis AFB between 2017 and 2021 showed that novel generator field performance typically runs 15 to 20 percent below vendor specifications in the first operating year. The real test is not whether the generator runs on ammonia; it is what the all-in fuel procurement cost per kWh looks like when procuring biomethane or ammonia at military-grade purity specifications.
