Reliability Reports

Battery power rental – VOLT Inc., Catheys Valley, Calif., is allowing California businesses to rent backup power systems using batteries; the power is delivered via an inverter to the main power box. Standard-sized 900- to 3,600-watt backup systems can be rented from $78 to $148 per month.

Capstone/MGE – MGE UPS Systems, Costa Mesa, Calif., and Capstone Turbine, Chatsworth, Calif., are now working together to offer UPS units combined with microturbine power generation to businesses that want clean, reliable and steady power. MGE says it will deploy Capstone’s microturbines in a variety of turnkey, scalable power-generation solutions.

Capstone/UL – Underwriters Laboratories has certified the Model 330 microturbine power system from Capstone as meeting its UL1741 utility interactive requirements. The unit was the only microturbine generator to achieve this safety certification as of late spring.

D-SMES – Energy provider Entergy has ordered two additional distributed superconducting magnetic energy storage (D-SMES) units from GE Industrial Systems, Duluth, Ga., and American Superconductor, Westborough, Mass., to assure power reliability. “D-SMES is the clear choice to assure power reliability for our customers,” said Doug Mader, director of engineering, management and capital construction, at Entergy Services.

Hunt Power has construction underway on a 75,000-square-foot facility in McAllen and Mission, Texas—said to be the first in a series of “easily modifiable” buildings designed for call centers and other technology-intensive tenants. Hunt calls the facilities “sustainable technology business centers,” as they will feature options for reliable on-site power generation and redundant telecommunications.

Solutions offered – Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Pullman, Wash., has formed SEL Industrial Solutions Group to serve non-utility users of electric power. The group will help engineers and managers of electrical power systems apply microprocessor-based power protection and communication devices to protect vital equipment.

Substation/Web – Kansas City Power & Light has ordered an Internet-based “intelligent substation monitoring system” for its Pflumm substation in Kansas City from Esubstation.com. Expansion to neighboring substations is possible.

University of California has purchased 6 mW of standby power using biodiesel-fueled generators from Southern States Power—the first time 100-percent biodiesel-fueled power will be generated on a commercial scale in California. Biodiesel is an alternative fuel that reportedly meets air-quality standards.

From Pure Power, Fall 2001.

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