For decades, the industry standard for standby power generation has been the diesel generator set. With the ever emerging desire to be more environmentally friendly, companies have been looking for new and different ways to meet the many requirements of the standby power generation market.
Joining me today via the Cat Electric Power Hotline to talk with us about some advancements in Natural Gas fired gensets for standby applications is Scott Conway.
Email us: powerbytes@cat.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/cat-electric-power/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Caterpillar.Electric.Power/
For decades, the industry standard for standby power generation has been the diesel generator set. With the ever emerging desire to be more environmentally friendly, companies have been looking for new and different ways to meet the many requirements of the standby power generation market.
Joining me today via the Cat Electric Power Hotline to talk with us about some advancements in Natural Gas fired gensets for standby applications is Scott Conway.
Email us: powerbytes@cat.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/cat-electric-power/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Caterpillar.Electric.Power/
Lou: Good Day and welcome everyone to Power Bytes! I am your host Lou Signorelli and Power Bytes is your destination Podcast for power generation conversation.
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Lou: For decades the industry standard for standby power generation has been the diesel generator set. With the ever emerging desire to be more environmentally friendly, companies have been looking for new and different ways to meet the many requirements of the standby power generation market.
Lou: Joining me today via the Cat Electric Power Hotline to talk with us about some advancements in Natural Gas fired gensets for standby applications is Scott Conway. Scott has been with Caterpillar for 34 years and has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin.
Welcome Scott and thanks for joining us.
Scott: Hi Lou. Thanks for asking me to join this month's Podcast. It's great to be here.
Lou: Scott, what is the latest news in the natural gas, power generation world?
Scott: I'm excited to tell you, Lou, that Caterpillar has done it again - we have just released two new EPA Factory Certified natural gas gen sets; one rated at 500 kW and the other at 2500 kW. We now have a portfolio of natural gas Standby gen sets that can meet users's power needs with ratings of; 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 2000 and 2500 kW's.
Lou: Industry first? Sounds like a big deal.
Scott: This is a big deal. Our portfolio covers an impressive power band from 500 kW all the way through 2500 kW. In addition these products are EPA Factory Certified and facilitate NFPA 110 Type 10 to meet our user's most challenging standby requirements. No one else in the industry can do this.
Lou: Wow, that is impressive. Help me to understand why someone should consider switching to Natural Gas Gensets.
Scott: There are so many reasons but for this discussion we'll stick to the big 4: Fuel Supply, Fuel Storage, Emissions, and Flexibility. First let's talk about the Natural Gas fuel supply system. In most cases the fuel is supplied through a network of pipes protected underground and designed with redundancy resulting in extremely high reliability. Consequently, a user doesn't need to worry about running out of fuel because of blocked or flooded roads that would normally stop a fuel delivery truck. Next let's talk about fuel storage. By using natural gas, users can avoid many of the challenges associated with storing diesel fuel. Just to name a few, there is the cost of storage tanks, limitations on the tank location, purchasing the fuel in advance, the associated cost to polish the fuel or problems of fuel contamination and finally the risks associated with potential leaks. Emissions is another important point. Because the emissions from a natural gas engine are much lower than diesel there is a big environmental advantage. Finally, using natural gas gives users more operational flexibility.
Lou: Scott, those are some compelling points. That last one really has me puzzled. How can using a natural gas genset, provide users with greater flexibility?
Scott: As you noted during the opening of this Podcast, diesel generator sets have been used for decades to provide standby power. They are very reliable and have a proven track record. However, because our new portfolio of natural gas gen sets are certified for use in both Emergency and Non-Emergency operation our users now have more options. For example a natural gas gen set purchased for standby can now be used for other purposes such as Storm Avoidance, Peak Shaving and Load Management just to name a few. This provides the user with significantly more flexibility.
Lou: Thanks Scott. Let's talk regulations for just a moment. NFPA 110 requires that the standby genset has to be to rated voltage and frequency and ready to accept load in 10 seconds. Do Cat's Natural Gas gens for standby do that?
Scott: Absolutely. We know that one of our user's critical requirements is to meet NFPA 110 Type 10 to support their life safety loads. Therefore this was at the top of the list for our engineers to achieve. In fact you will interested to know that our engineers set the bar even higher. We knew that it wasn't good enough for just the gen set to be ready in 10 seconds but rather the system must be ready in 10 seconds. Therefore our units are actually up and ready to go in about 7 seconds allowing time for other system components to react as well.
Lou: Anecdotally, we assume Natural Gas gens have lower emissions than Diesel, but can you help our listeners to quantify that delta?
Scott: It's true. Natural Gas is a very clean burning fuel which results in lower emissions. In this case, I'd like to talk specifically about Nitrogen Oxide emissions, sometimes referred to as NOx or "NOx". These are the emissions that cause smog and acid rain. In the case of gen sets classified by the EPA for Emergency Operation the natural gas unit will emit 3 times less NOx than a diesel gen set. So, for example; a 1 MW natural gas gen set would produce about 6.3 lbs / hour of NOx while the equivalent diesel gen set would produce over 20 lbs / hour. That’s a big difference. This is especially important when our users require a large installation or there are other emitters on site and the user is concerned about the total site emissions.
Lou: Up and running in 10 secs and lowering emissions are cool, but where the 'rubber meets the road' is transient response time. How good is the genset really?
Scott: Lou, I've worked for Caterpillar for over 34 years and I've never seen a natural gas gen set start and take load like these new configurations. It is truly impressive. However, I don't expect you to just take my word. Let's talk about the facts. Most standby systems require about 30% of the gen set capacity for life safety loads which must be satisfied first and then the remaining loads can be stepped on as required. Under these conditions, users using our natural gas gen sets will see < 10% frequency dip and < 15% voltage dip, well within the limits of most equipment. It's also important to note that these new configurations can take 100% load steps up and down. While most users don't do this in real life we do know that it is required by many of the project specs.
Lou: Impressive Scott! Let's say I'm a new user of a Gas genset in a standby configuration. Are there other ways for me to get more from my investment?
Scott: Absolutely. Lest use "peak shaving" as a simple example of how users can leverage their standby investment to save money. A typical utility bill includes many charges which add up to the total monthly bill. One of those can be a "demand charge". It's important to note that this charge isn't for the kW-hrs of energy consumed but rather for the peak kW power demand during the month. In many cases this is a $10 / kW / month charge. This is a bit complicated so let's use an example. Imagine a hospital typically requires 3 MW to support their facility. However if their load increases by 1000 kW for just 1 hour of 1 day during the month the utility will add a $10,000 demand charge. So in this case the hospital could run their 1000 kW gas standby gen set for just 1 hour / month and save themselves $10,000. Note that by doing this they get the added benefit of exercising their gen set.
Lou: So let me see if I got this right:
· Meets the 10 second rule of NFPA 110 Type 10
· Lowers NOx emissions by a factor of 3
· Transient acceptance to meet most diesel specifications
· Saves me money on fuel AND because I now have an underground fuel line, I don't need to worry about floods or blocked roads inhibiting my access to fuel. And no matter what, I can run the length of an outage!
· AND if I plan ahead and want to take advantage of the "spark spread" (that's the difference of the cost of natural gas vs utility costs, I can peak shave or load manage my way into even greater savings?
Scott: Yep, I think you've got it Lou.
Lou: There you have it folks. I'd like to thank Scott Conway for sharing his insights with us today… and thanks to you, our listeners for listening to Power Bytes. If you'd like more information on how you can best take advantage of gas gensets for your facility, please go to cat.com/gas standby generators
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