Capstone Turbine has secured a contract to supply C600 microturbine to power oil processing equipment and electrical submersible pumps on an oil platform off the western coast of Africa.
The 600 kW microturbine will run on casing gas, otherwise marked as waste during the oil production process, to help transform the platform into an oil processing platform. Additional processing equipment upgrades will be made in order to further increase the efficiency of wellhead drilling and offshore oil processing aboard the platform. The project is scheduled to be commissioned in 2016.
Offshore oil and gas platforms cannot suffer a loss of power without running the risk of potentially disastrous results. Capstone microturbines feature a patented air bearing technology with only one moving part, making them rugged, reliable and a perfect solution for any industry. The microturbines do not require oil or lubricants to operate, and they deliver power via state-of-the-art power electronics. This translates to higher machine availability and longer maintenance intervals, providing a significant performance advantage when compared to traditional reciprocating engines.
According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 2014 Africa Energy Outlook, energy demand in sub-Saharan Africa grew by around 45 percent from 2000 to 2012. However, with such limited access to modern energy services and a severely unreliable grid supply, many African businesses are forced to use privately owned diesel generators to supplement their load demands.
"Africa is a new growth market for Capstone as energy demand in the region has increased by 80 percent over the last decade," said Jim Crouse, Capstone’s Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "Africa is expected to hold a larger share of offshore capital expenditure starting in 2016, which opens up an excellent opportunity for us to provide clean and reliable microturbine power to these operations," added Mr. Crouse.