Proceedings of the 33rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2000
Project Title: Micro Turbine Generator Program
Stephanie L. Hamilton Southern California Edison
Stephaniehamilton@yahoo.com
Abstract
A number of micro turbines generators have recently been announced as currently commercially available for sale to customers, such as end users, utilities, and energy service providers. Manufacturers and others are reporting certain performance capabilities of the turbines; however, no consistent third-party independent testing as been done to confirm or discredit such performance claims. The purpose of this project is to provide such an independent, third party testing assessment. This project purchased, installed, operated and tested micro turbines to assess their performance. Data was collected electronically and manually. This project generally reports the performance testing program. The paper will reveal the relative maturity of the technology overall and look forward to the needs of the “next generation” of microturbines.
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Overview
There are several manufacturers of Micro turbine generators (MTGs) announcing their products as currently commercially available. Their potential customers are end-users, utilities, and energy service providers. The chart shows some of the MTG Manufacturers and current MTG operating features. To be competitive with existing technology, most MTG manufacturers rely on enhanced reliability and lower maintenance costs. MTG manufacturers expect to achieve greater reliability and lower costs by using fewer moving parts and lower manufacturing costs. Manufacturers thus expect economy of manufacturing of microturbines to replace economics of scale for central plants. For MTGs to be competitive in the marketplace, minimum customers’ expectations are: 40,000 hour “wheel life” Heat rate of 12,000 to 16,000 BTU/kWh Good part load performance Emissions < 9ppm Noise < 70 dB Cheap and easy installation and maintenance
There is a tremendous potential market for MTGs if the MTG manufacturers can make their products competitive with the other forms of energy available at the meter. Using turbo-charger technology, the cost of producing an MTG can become lower and lower -- depending on the manufacturer’s expertise in economy of manufacturing. This is especially true if the manufacturer can use a casting process versus a machined process. The MTG manufacturers realize that with an adequate volume of sales, relying on low cost economics of manufacturing, MTGs have a stronger potential to compete well at the meter with large central power plants. Additionally, on site power maybe able to pick off other markets within niches to provide for future product development. MTGs are intended to provide the energy industry with dispersed power generation assets that may be located close to the loads they serve. For utilities, interest in MTGs is based on deferred central power plant construction, deferred distribution line upgrades, and improved reliability. End use customers may view MTGs as an alternative to other small generators, an environmentally acceptable power generation device, and a reliability improvement mechanism. There is speculation that MTGs may be an integral part of the future utility infrastructure. In such as speculation, numerous, small generators are scattered throughout a utility's traditional distribution network working in parallel with central power plants. Some believe this will emulate what personal computers and local area networks did by working in parallel to mainframes. MTG manufacturers and others are reporting certain performance capabilities of the turbines; however, no consistent, independent, third party independent testing has been done to confirm or discredit such performance claims. However, MTGs will only be considered if they perform acceptably and meet customers’ requirements for power quality, reliability, availability, environmental
