DISTRIBUTED POWER
American Energy Savings has ordered 126 microturbines from Capstone under a two-year deal, only days after Mariah Energy placed a virtually identical order with the company. American Energy Savings (AES) is an independent power marketer based in Los Angeles, CA, and plans to develop onsite cogeneration using one or more Capstone units. AES has several projects in preliminary stages, including the use of unprocessed landfill and digester gases to generate electricity for onsite use.
Mariah Energy is a Canadian energy service provider based in Calgary, Alberta. The 126 Capstone systems will be combined with Mariah’s heat exchangers, load management equipment and electronic controls and all the equipment will be operated from a web-based despatch and control facility. Mariah offers turn-key systems on a build-own-operate basis, billing the end-user solely for energy delivered.
The latest Capstone orders follow September’s announcements that Harza Engineering Company has formed a new company focused on distributed generation with the purchase of 250 microturbine systems from Capstone. The Harza Energy sale is part of a 3-year strategic alliance in which Harza will serve as a provider of the microturbine systems. Dr. Ake Almgren, president and chief executive of Capstone, said, “Harza’s experience in South America will help bring microturbine technology to this part of the world”. Additionally, The Hanover Company, placed a 100 unit, one-year order with Capstone. Hanover will serve as a provider of Capstone systems for use in oil-and-gas production operations.
In another recent deal, Alliant Energy has announced it is intending to distribute Capstone systems in Chicago and the collar counties, though details of this alliance were not disclosed. All these orders come as Capstone commercially launches its first 60 kW system. The unit is to be installed at Reliant Energy Minnegasco’s gas storage facility in Minnesota.