World of Water Conference offers energy and optimization
LAS VEGAS, Nev., December 6, 2001 — The World of Water Conference slated for Dec. 10 through 12 in Las Vegas features two fast-paced tracks: System Optimization and Energy Efficiency and Management.
The conference this year is co-located with PowerGen International and the show's equipment displays and Water Pavilion will compliment conference topics.
Among those energy efficiency topics expected to attract major attention is the use of microturbines for distributed generation. The conference workshop, Turning Wastewater to Energy via Distributed Generation, is set for the afternoon of Monday, Dec. 10. Stephen Chippas, President of MWH, will give participants a basic understanding of distributed generation, its applicability to industry and some options for turning wastewater to energy. Participants will visit the PowerGen International Show floor for a first-hand look at a microturbine and its components. For more show information and visit http://www.worldofwaterexpo.com/.
PennWell, the publisher of WaterWorld and Industrial WaterWorld magazines, welcomes conference attendees to Las Vegas for the World of Water 2001. This is the first time that the conference is being held in conjunction with PowerGen International, the world's largest power generation event.
PennWell has taken extra measures to ensure the comfort, safety and security of visitors to the conference. With the recent events that have threatened the security of Americans, we are more concerned than ever with stretching operating and maintenance budgets as far as absolutely possible.
The World of Water Conference program has been designed to give many practical ideas worth taking back home and implementing. Every session offers topics covering innovative technologies and techniques developed to stretch budget dollars farther than ever.
The conference kicks off with the Monday afternoon workshop, Turning Wastewater to Energy, presented by Stephen Chippas with MWH. Afterwards, be sure to join the Monday evening Power-Gen International Reception at the Hilton Garden Patio.
During World of Water 2001, guest should be sure to stop in at the PowerGen Bookstore, located in the Exhibit hall lobby, to browse through the bookshelves. The shop offers a variety of reading materials and titles including Wastewater Treatment Troubleshooting and Problem Solving, Power Plant Water Chemistry: A Practical Guide, Practical Manual of Wastewater Chemistry and many more.
Tuesday morning the conference program features two exciting tracks, Energy Management and System Optimization/Onsite Power Generation. A very special luncheon is planned for Tuesday and speaker John Ruetten presents his ideas for fostering the long-range vision the water industry needs in order to create a future of abundance. Tuesday after the day's session, enjoy the reception at the Water Pavilion on the Power-Gen International Exhibit Floor.
Wednesday's sessions offer cutting edge and newly tested strategies for Reuse and Recycling and System Optimization. Saving the best for last, Wednesday's afternoon sessions wrap up with Energy Efficiency technology featuring Variable Speed Drives and Optimization through the use of Operational Management Systems and SCADA networks.
Every afternoon, visitors will be able to browse through the PowerGen International Exhibits, and in particular, to visit the Water Pavilion.
Energy Primer
Increasingly, on-site energy production and catch phrases like distributed generation, co-generation and microgrids are being discussed in water and wastewater treatment circles. First expanded computer technology, then Y2K contingencies and now serious concerns for dependable electricity are spurring many managers to seek alternatives for reliable energy supplies.
Distributed generation (DG) is the production of electricity on site using a variety of generation equipment, such as fuel cells, mini-turbines and internal combustion engines, as opposed to producing energy at large, centralized power plants or utility substations. Distributed generation equipment can be used to produce as little as 5 kW, enough to provide backup power for a typical household, or as much as 10 MW or more to meet the electricity needs of a large industrial park.
Microgrids are small-scale energy supply and delivery systems that generate and store electricity on site for the multiple users and facilities they serve. The basic components of the microgrid system include multiple on-site generators in a variety of sizes and types, an underground delivery network and an interconnection to the grid (optional).
Cogeneration, utilizing both heat and power, means maximum fuel utilization with system efficiencies of 70 to 80 percent and some as high as 90 percent. Restaurants, hotels, residential care facilities, small factories and a wide variety of other commercial businesses can combine their need for electricity and thermal energy by using the MicroTurbine as a Micro-cogeneration system, serving small-scale loads that were previously not economic.
Two companies in particular stand out as major contenders in the on-site generation arena, Capstone Turbine Corporation and DTE Energy Technologies. See Frost and Sullivan's analysis of the microturbine market in a related story,
Microturbine Applications
-Heat - Direct: Because the microturbine system is oil-free, the oxygen-rich direct exhaust can be used for a variety of heating applications, including process drying and supplementing boiler combustion air.
-Heat - Indirect: If hot water or steam is required, packaged heat exchangers can be integrated with the microturbine's controls, ready to operate as a system. Microturbine company applications engineers offer custom integrations.
-Cooling: Microturbine systems are currently deployed using recovered exhaust heat for absorption chillers. These systems reduce peak demand charges by eliminating cooling load and by generating on-peak power.
New Miniturbine Takes Aim at Microturbine Market
By Max Mayer
The microturbine industry has taken off over the past couple of years through the emergence of new competitors and applications. Capstone Turbine, by far the most publicized microturbine manufacturer, has been at the forefront of engineering, design, packaging, distribution and operating success.
The company recently reported that profitability may be reached by the end of 2002. Capstone's drive toward profitability has been accelerated by the scalability of its product toward higher outputs.
Higher Output
The shift to higher output microturbines as a function of market demand was evidenced by Capstone's development of a 60 kW unit, up from the initial 30 kW unit. A significant proportion of customers were ordering multiple units and linking them together for greater output.
The company touted that linking multiple units together would allow the user to maintain maximum efficiency with the flexibility to follow electric load closely. The demand for operating multiple units proved strong enough that Capstone developed the 60 kW machines.
Offering larger output machines improves Capstone's gross margin and limits the company's exposure to supplier risk. Critical componentry such as circuit boards, which have delayed production due to shortages, are required in smaller batches when producing greater output units as fewer components are required for inventory and assembly.
Economies of scale will benefit the manufacturer more than the customer. In fact, at Capstone's second quarter conference call, the principals indicated that the per kilowatt cost for the 60 kW machine would fall to approximately $800 per kilowatt versus $900 per kilowatt for the 30 kW model. Indeed, demand for microturbines is great enough that the company may not have had to reduce cost per kilowatt at all. Until now, customers that required the low emissions of the microturbine for DG applications had no choice but to install multiple units in parallel. Citing strong demand, the company hinted that prices might actually increase in the future. This will depend largely on the availability of competing products.
Enter the Miniturbine
Looking to capitalize on demand for high output units, DTE Energy Technologies, a subsidiary of DTE Energy, will begin delivering 400 kW microturbines early in 2002 under the brand name energy|now(tm).
DTE Energy Technologies, Turbo Genset Company of London, and Pratt & Whitney Power Systems of Canada have partnered to build a 400 kW miniturbine. Unlike the vertically integrated Capstone, which built its business from the ground up, DTE Energy Technologies has taken best-of-breed components from several manufacturers and designed a 400 kW micro-or as the company calls it-a miniturbine. DTE Energy Technologies has effectively launched itself onto the microturbine scene with a new marketing approach that the company hopes will realize annual sales of 500 or more units by the year 2005.
Target Market
Several potential markets are expected to be served with the miniturbine. Among them are the typical distributed generation markets for Internet data centers and commercial buildings. The units are expected to achieve greater cost economies through the process of cogeneration where the exhaust heat of the turbine engine is used for other building processes such as hot water heating. The economics of microcogeneration applications are favorable. DTE Energy Technologies however, will focus on a new market application -- the microgrid, which the company expects to account for 60 percent of sales.
Microgrid Market to Drive Sales
The microgrid is a distributed generation model envisioned by DTE Energy Technologies' Chief Technology Officer Murray Davis. The microgrid consists of several miniturbines to provide baseload capability, supplemented perhaps by one or more combustion engines for maximum load following capability, with an optional connection to the power utility.
The microgrid concept was described as a virtual utility, where a collection of different power generation technologies are brought together to serve an aggregation of loads to provide quality and reliability that is superior to that of the current utility system. A typical microgrid based on the ENT 400 is envisioned to serve a load of around 1 to 2 megawatts. Indeed the design of the ENT 400 package was driven from the outset to enable operation in parallel with other units in a microgrid.
One microgrid currently under development is at a facility in southeast Michigan consisting of three DTE Energy Technologies ENT 400 miniturbines providing an installed capacity of 1.2 megawatts.
The company has a broad range of distributed generation technologies that it plans to offer as part of a portfolio of products. This range of technologies lends itself to the microgrids, a concept company sees being applied to a wide range of customer needs, including premium power applications, light industrial, campus-like facilities and office parks.
A Market Evolves
Going forward DTE Energy Technologies has entered into agreements with Pratt & Whitney and Turbo Genset to develop a 1.2 MW miniturbine. Further demonstrating confidence in large scale micro- or miniturbine generation, the company will employ the same marketing channels to serve medium-to-large industrial and commercial customers. Such an engine would deem most combinations of competing microturbines unnecessary.
Capstone Microturbines
Capstone Turbine Corporation offers ultra-low-emission, high-reliability microturbine systems. In 1998, the company was the first to offer commercial power products utilizing microturbine technology, the result of more than 10 years of focused research and more than 750,000 hours of real-world testing.
MicroTurbine(tm) systems are operating worldwide in applications as diverse as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), resource recovery, micro-cogeneration for combined heat/power/chilling solutions, capacity addition, power quality and reliability improvement, peak shaving and stand-by power.
The company's flagship product is the Capstone MicroTurbine power generation system. It's about the size of a refrigerator and generates 30 kilowatts of electricity - enough to power a small business.
The Capstone MicroTurbine is based on the same technology as a jet engine --but integrates patented air bearing and proprietary software with state-of-the-art electronics. The result: a versatile, reliable, environmentally beneficial solution for power generation that is virtually maintenance-free.
Capstone began developing this new microturbine concept back in 1988. By December 1998, when the company began shipping its first commercial units, it had placed more than 130 testbed units throughout Canada, New Zealand and the United States. Since then, the Capstone MicroTurbine(tm) has amassed more than 350,000 hours of rigorous testing and commercial operation in a wide range of applications and geographic environments.
DTE Energy Technologies
DTE Energy Technologies is a diversified high-technology company offering a broad range of products and services for commercial, residential and industrial customers. Chief among these are energy|now(tm) distributed generation solutions, both continuous and standby power units, including mini turbines, internal and external combustion engines and fuel cells.
Recently, the company announced the successful testing of Pratt & Whitney Power Systems' ST5 turbine, which will be marketed worldwide as part of the energy|now(tm) ENT 400. The ST5 was tested for distributed generation applications at Pratt & Whitney Canada's facilities at Longueuil, Canada.
The ST5 is the largest gas turbine ever built with air bearings. DTE Energy Technologies, a subsidiary of DTE Energy, has ordered 100 ST5 units, as well as integral high-speed permanent magnet generators to be supplied by The Turbo Genset Company Ltd. of the United Kingdom.
This new high-efficiency product, the energy|now mini-turbine(tm), model ENT 400, is targeted for distributed generation applications for small- to medium-sized commercial customers and micro-grids serving both residential and commercial development projects.
"Completion of this initial testing brings us closer to being able to market the ENT 400 at a time when distributed generation is becoming an important solution to regional energy woes," said Paul Horst, president of DTE Energy Technologies.
The ENT 400 will utilize Pratt & Whitney's state-of-the art industrial engine, which has aerodynamics derived from modern aircraft engines. These engines will directly drive high-speed generator systems from Turbo Genset, which employ a unique technology that allows high performance and reliability at one-tenth of the size and weight of conventional generators in this power range.
DTE Energy Technologies will provide overall system controls for integration into micro-grids and remote monitoring, as well as interfaces to traditional utility grids. DTE Energy Technologies also will be responsible for the packaging of the systems and marketing of the ENT 400. Commercial units are expected to be available beginning in early 2002.
