RunReady V5N3

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FALL 2014

2 Winter Ready

Prepare your genset to operate in cold weather

3 Control Spark Plug Costs

Trend analysis saves money by avoiding unnecessary replacement

4 Turnkey Solution

CHP system solves medical center power needs

8 Improve Battery Readiness

Best performance assured by storage practices

9 Proactive Approach

Backup power part of progressive sewer initiative

12 Ahead of the Game

Powerful Solution

Read the story:

Public-private partnership results in cost effective hospital CHP system

4

Utility builds renewable energy strategy with landfill gas

™

Winter

Ready

Steps to make sure your standby genset operates in cold temperatures

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s the day light hours grow shorter and the temperature drops, the arrival of cold weather is a reminder to check the winter readiness of your standby generator sets.

Here’s a checklist to help you get started:

✓ Clean any corrosion from battery terminals ✓ Check the battery charge and electrolyte levels if the battery is not maintenance free ✓ Keep batteries fully charged to prevent freezing–warm batteries maintain at least 70 percent of their cranking power ✓ For electric starters, extra battery capacity may be required in cold weather ✓ For air starters, a larger volume of air may be needed to start engines in colder temperatures ✓ Use a jacket water heater to maintain the temperature recommended in your Operation and Maintenance Manual

✓ Keep the fuel tank full ✓ Drain the fuel water separator ✓ Make sure extreme temperatures have not affected fuel stability ✓ Check coolant for adequate freeze protection ✓ Check hoses for cracks, soft spots and/or abrasions ✓ Tighten loose clamps ✓ Assure the thermostat is working properly This is just a partial list. There are many other cold weather issues that may impact your specific situation. They include an oil grade that flows well in low ambient temperatures, and maintaining the proper concentration of ethylene glycol in the coolant.

To answer any further questions you may have about preparing your generator set for winter, contact the power systems experts at our dealership.

RunReady™ is published by High Velocity Communications Inc. on behalf of your Cat ® Dealer. Publisher, Mark Sell • Editorial Director, John Rondy • Senior Art Director, Eric Valk • Director of Client Services, Kelly Pemper. Every attempt has been made to ensure specifications are accurate. Because specifications are subject to change without notice, check with us, your Cat Dealer, for the latest information. Some photography provided courtesy of Caterpillar Inc. CAT, CATERPILLAR, their respective logos, “Caterpillar Yellow,” and the POWER EDGE trade dress, BUILT FOR IT as well as corporate and product identity used herein, are trademarks of Caterpillar and may not be used without permission. High Velocity Communications Inc., 1720 Dolphin Drive, Suite D, Waukesha, WI 53186-1489. RunReady is a trademark of High Velocity Communications Inc. Phone 262.544.6600. Please submit address corrections and changes via email to: Kelly@HighVelocityCommunications.com. ©2014 High Velocity Communications Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. Volume 5, Number 3.

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ISSUE NUMBER 19

PARK PLUG

Control Spark Plug Costs

Trend analysis saves money by avoiding unnecessary replacement

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ou want to maximize uptime for your natural gas-powered generator sets, or in the case of standby power, to assure its readiness.

To minimize downtime, it is best and usually most cost efficient to consolidate as many service tasks during planned maintenance. By-the-book maintenance intervals based on owner’s manuals may not be the best way to accomplish this. Instead, trend analysis is recommended for establishing the optimum timing for parts replacement. Spark plugs should be included.

Spark plug wear can vary depending on load factor, fuel quality and other variables. The life of a plug that has a J-gap can run from 2,000 to 4,000 hours in low-compression engines, and up to 5,000 hours in high-compression engines.

But change intervals for plugs can go beyond those listed in the owner’s manual. Keep a record of the plugs’ general condition and the gap at each service. This information can assist in developing the optimal plug change interval for a specific installation. You should regap plugs to the recommended specification at each service. Of course, good maintenance includes cleaning plug electrodes during service.

You can also trend plug performance by monitoring secondary transformer output. This usually is indicated as percentages from the engine software or through the SCADA system. New spark plugs register 25 percent, but as the electrode deteriorates, the gap widens and the voltage needed to jump across the terminals increases. Plug failure begins when secondary voltage goes beyond 90 percent, indicating it is time to regap or replace.

When an engine is unstable or running poorly, measure the exhaust port temperature. If there is a drop in temperature, it is likely a plug has failed or is misfiring. If a single plug has failed far sooner in the expected change interval, it is best to change just that plug. However, if three or more have failed, it is most likely an indication that all plugs are nearing the end of their serviceable life, and all of them should be replaced.

Too little maintenance has its pitfalls, but too much maintenance has unnecessary costs. If you would like to learn more about using trend analysis for establishing parts replacement intervals, contact our Power Systems experts about spark plugs and more.

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CUSTOMERFEATURE

A TURNKEY

SOLUTION

CHP system solves medical center emergency and prime power needs

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hree years ago, Don Allik faced a dilemma.

The director of facilities at the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center (UM UCMC) in Bel Air, Md. wanted to fortify emergency backup power to three load centers that serve health care occupants at the 44-acre campus.

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Like all hospitals, UM UCMC had a required diesel backup generator, but it could only handle about 40 percent of healthcare-specific loads during an emergency, and that precluded the ability to bring on air conditioning when the utility feed went down.

“As we’ve seen with Hurricane Katrina and more recently Hurricane

Sandy, that is not a good position for hospitals to be in with no cooling during a summertime utility emergency,” Allik said.

“So we started exploring ways to provide more power to the campus, and one of the things that struck us was utilizing a cogeneration gas engine that we could run all the time,” Allik continued. “Rather than bringing on another emergency diesel that would sit there collecting dust, we could save money on our utility bills and also use that engine to combine with our backup diesel to provide power to the campus in an emergency.”

ISSUE NUMBER 19

CUSTOMERFEATURE

Customer Profile

University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center (UM UCMC) Location: Bel Air, Md. The $8.5 million project started with a capital funding request to the medical center board. But in healthcare, competition for funds is always keen, and typically the clinical side wins out over infrastructure needs. So Allik and his associates looked for alternative ways to provide power to the campus, ultimately signing a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Clark Energy and Structured Finance Group, which offered a turnkey solution.

Unique structure As a subsidiary of Clark Construction Group in Bethesda, Md., the Clark entity handled all aspects of the project, including financing, design, implementation and also operation of the cogeneration facility, which commenced in June.

The PPA structure will save the hospital a projected $9 million over the 20-year contract due to the contractual FALL 2014

price of electricity and the waste heat utilization which avoids the need to purchase more electricity or natural gas to power conventional systems.

The project also received $1.5 million in funding from local utility BG&E as part of the EmPower Maryland CHP incentive awards program.

The CHP 2 MW system utilizes a Cat® 3516H generator set as the centerpiece.

It typically operates at about 60 percent of its capacity, but can crank up to full power during an outage and peak hospital demand periods to help meet the medical campus’ energy needs.

The CHP system is designed to run in island mode when the utility feed is lost.

When combined with the existing diesel generator, the system can power 65 percent of campus loads and 90 percent of healthcare occupancy loads.

Additional benefits of the CHP system include waste heat that is utilized to produce steam in a heat recovery steam

Application: Combined Heat and

Power system for medical campus CAT® EQUIPMENT: G3516H

generator set

generator. The system also creates hot water and directs steam into absorption chillers to create chilled water for air conditioning. These byproducts of a CHP system make it more efficient than traditional electricity, said Theo Milford, the Clark PE and project manager who worked on the project.

“One of the advantages of cogeneration is that it’s considered a very green methodology for producing power,” Allik added. “Operating our Continued on page 6

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CUSTOMERFEATURE CHP unit is equivalent to taking 2,200 cars off the road permanently. And cogeneration at the hospital runs at about 65 percent efficiency, whereas the efficiency of the power derived from the utility runs at 35 to 40 percent. So the emissions coming from a cogeneration plant utilizing natural gas are much lower than with other utility options.”

Cat genset the right fit Originally, project engineers looked at utilizing two smaller engines to run in parallel with the utility. But ultimately they landed on the 60 Hz Cat G3516H generator set.

“We took a hard look at it, and we thought this could be a very good application for this project,” Milford said. “One of the things that stood out to us was having a high-efficiency genset that could meet emissions reduction levels. We wanted to ensure we had an engine that was able to meet state thresholds with minimal treatment required, and this particular engine did that for us.”

“Having another source of power besides the diesel and a source of power that saves money through its operation is certainly a win-win in anybody’s book.”

Don Allik Director of Facilities University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center

Another deciding factor was procuring a larger engine and having the ability to run it at a lower set point and maintain power production as well as thermal output, Milford says.

“And it was the right fit for us at the right price, as well,” said Milford, adding that the local Cat Dealer, Alban Power Systems, was very helpful in specifying the G3516H as part of the initial design phase.

“We spent a lot of time meeting with representatives of Alban at the site, discussing our scope and discussing what we wanted in our design. We

THE WHOLE PACKAGE Third party handles all aspects of hospital CHP system Hospital facilities staffs have their hands full maintaining the facility and keeping systems operational. When it comes to assessing power needs and providing a full turnkey solution—from design, financing and building the new system—as well as owning and operating it, a Bethesda, Md. company has the answer.

“A power purchase agreement like we did with University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center (UM UCMC) is very advantageous for the client, because as a for-profit entity that is privately held, we’re able to access financial tax credits and other types of incentives including depreciation that nonprofit institutions like Upper Chesapeake can’t access on its own,” says Claudia Meer, Managing Director of Energy and Structured Finance for Clark Construction Group.

“So we’re able to bring funding to the project that the hospital can’t access, and we’re able to develop the project without impacting its credit or using its essential capital budget that can be used for other important projects,” Meer says. “And we are able to fully design it to the parameters that it needs.”

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received some very good feedback from the team there.”

When it came time to perform emissions testing on the new CHP system, an Alban technician made modifications in the field to ensure that Clark had no issues at all with the engine operation.

“He was able to resolve any issues that we faced,” Milford said. “So we had a very good experience— especially on the service side— where we previously had very good experiences with the team at Alban on the engineering and development sides.”

The federal incentives, investment tax credit, and bonus and accelerated depreciation are all incorporated into the project economics, Meer says.

“When we develop a project for a client, we will assess all the capital costs and all of the permitting and interconnection agreement costs,” she says. “Then we Claudia Meer look at the different sources of capital and how we can structure a power price that enables them to save money in the short-, medium-, and long-terms. “ Clark offers a fully bundled solution that incorporates all of the infrastructure costs, and all of the soft costs, such as permitting and other design elements and all of the stack testing. Clark also incorporates the costs of all operation and maintenance services over the 20-year life of the contract.

“One of the aspects where we really feel we can add value is clearly the hospital’s facilities staff, which has an important job of trying to maintain the facility and keep the systems operational,” Meer says.

“We think offering this bundled package where we can provide this ISSUE NUMBER 19

CUSTOMERFEATURE CHP “a win-win” As someone who has worked at other hospitals, Allik knows the situation medical facilities face with emergency power. It may be that they start off with reasonably sized diesel backup generators, but over time with new building additions to the campus, the capacity of the backup genset is stretched.

“So having another source of power besides the diesel and a source of power that saves money through its operation is certainly a win-win in anybody’s book,” Allik said.

With a proposal afoot in the Dept. of Health and Human Services that would require hospitals to have more emergency power on hand, the heat could soon be on hospital and medical center boards to come up with a solution.

Cogeneration makes the most sense, particularly given that hospitals typically operate on thin margins, Allik says.

“The lessons of Katrina and Sandy have prompted activity at the federal level to start pushing hospitals to provide more power,” Allik said. “The

only economical way to do that is through cogeneration, because to just install additional emergency capacity ultimately is very expensive to have that asset sitting there, just in case. With cogeneration powering our daily operations, we can save money and have that additional capacity.”

full turnkey service solution, as well as the capital to fund the project, is the way to go.”

Clark interfaces with hospital staff to ensure the design element dovetails well with the existing facilities on site. Clark has the dayto-day responsibility for managing and developing the design, going through the permitting and interconnection process, applying for the incentives, and overseeing the construction and the commissioning.

Once the CHP system is operational, it becomes a matter of operating the facility and delivering power as needed.

director Don Allik. “So this arrangement gives our staff ample time to become completely acclimated with the equipment before we assume responsibility for operation of the plant.”

Debt financing on the UCMC project was provided by Cat Financial.

“Cat Financial was terrific,” Meer says. “It’s wonderful to work with an institution that fully understands how these systems operate. That

“Cat Finance was terrific. Clearly, Cat Financial understands the reliability of a CHP system, the operation of the system, and they were very supportive of our team in making this project happen.”

There is also a process where Clark Energy & Structured Finance personnel train the hospital facilities staff in the operation of the CHP system, so there’s an orderly transition when and if the system ownership reverts back to the hospital.

is really a key component and certainly something that’s missing in the general marketplace for lenders. Obviously the complexity of a cogeneration system is something that most lenders have difficulty fully understanding and appreciating.

“One of the things that we were concerned about was that a cogen system is a rather sophisticated operation, both electrically and mechanically, for the recovery of heat,” says UM UCMC facilities

“Clearly, Cat Financial understands the reliability of a CHP system, the operation of the system, and they were very supportive of our team in making this project happen.”

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7

Improve

Battery Readiness Best performance assured by pre-installation storage practices

Shelf Life The length of time a new battery can be stored varies. A dry battery usually has an indefinite shelf life, but a boost charge may be needed when it is filled, if it is stored for more than a year. Make sure caps are tightened to prevent dirt entry.

The shelf life of wet batteries depends on the type.

Maintenance and low-maintenance batteries have a six-month shelf life. You can double the shelf life by recharging at the end of six months, but only one recharge is recommended.

Maintenance-free and maintenance-free accessible batteries have a longer shelf life of one year. You can recharge at the end of the first year to extend shelf life to two years, but only one recharge is recommended. The longer shelf life of these batteries is due to calcium/calcium grids in Cat速 maintenancefree and maintenance-free accessible batteries, rather than the antimony grids in maintenance and low-maintenance batteries.

Storage Do not stack batteries on top of one another. If stacking is the only alternative, they should be in cartons or on pallets with corrugated packaging between each layer. In any event, do not stack batteries more than two high, although automotive type batteries may be stacked three high.

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Batteries stored in a high rise must not be above the second rack or exposed to sunlight. Heat discharges batteries quickly, so keep them away from ceiling heat. Ideally, you want to store batteries in a dry area, in the coolest temperatures that remain above freezing. Batteries should be warehoused in an upright position.

Inventory Control Keep inventory as low as practical, rotating stock using the first-in, first-out method. To do so, mark the date each battery was purchased. Batteries rated at 12 volts will measure 12.6 volts or higher, but that will drop with heat and time. A boost charge will be needed if a battery falls below 12.45 volts.

Performance and service life will be reduced if voltage falls below 12 volts.

Please take a moment to make sure you are following these simple steps for battery storage to achieve the best performance when it is time for installation. If a battery has reached the end of its useful life or is defective, please recycle the battery.

Contact us for the best method of disposal, or if you would like information about Cat General Service Line (GSL) or Cat Premium High Output (PHO) batteries.

ISSUE NUMBER 19

CUSTOMERFEATURE

A Proactive

APPROACH

Backup power part of progressive sewer rehab initiative

C

lean water and sanitary sewer service are often taken for granted by the general public. But for the employees at First Utility District (FUD) of Knox County, Tenn., every one of the 13,299 manholes in their coverage area reminds them of one of their indispensable roles: taking care of the waste water pumped through approximately 600 miles of sewer lines.

While the district is responsible for providing drinking water and collecting wastewater, it is FUD’s success with the sewer rehabilitation program that makes general manager Bruce Giles beam.

He also credits FUD’s board with fiscal savvy. The district has spent about $51.6 million on sewer rehabilitation since 2006, and is budgeting $35 million for the program over the next five years—and that’s in cash. This

responsible planning—both in the financial sense and with the intensive rehabilitation program—has resulted in lower fees for customers, Giles says.

Customer Profile

First Utility District (FUD) Location: West Knoxville, Tenn.

Application: Backup power to pumping stations CAT® EQUIPMENT: 3306A; 3516B;

Olympian CG060; Olympian CG125

Pictured outside a FUD pump station are (L to R): Ronnie Davis, assistant manager for operations; Dan Stiles, telemetry technician; Pat Spangler, director of capacity management, operations and maintenance.

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CUSTOMERFEATURE “Proof is in the numbers, and I believe we have the best program in East Tennessee,” he says.

The district’s proactive approach to maintaining and rehabilitating the sewer lines also involves fixing manholes and replacing the system’s most crucial element, pump stations.

“We’ve been replacing a pump station every year,” Giles says. “Thirty or 40 years ago, nobody thought about this,” he adds, noting that the district has grown from the small area of 3,000 people that it first served, to a much larger area serving 85,000 residents.

Since 1974, plant capacity has been upgraded from one million gallons per day to 18 million gallons per day to meet the growing demand.

First Utility District is based in West Knoxville, the fastest growing portion of the Knoxville metropolitan area. As part of its planning process, the district is taking anticipated future growth into consideration.

Backup power essential To serve the growing number of households and businesses, FUD has taken the necessary steps to employ critical backup measures. Every major

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system within the district has backup power, and the Tennessee Department. of Environment and Conservation recommends that any facility handling one million or more gallons per day have a generator set. Should a pump

“We have a great relationship with Stowers. I am confident that if we needed them at 3 a.m. in the morning, they would be there right away.

You can’t beat having a good relationship with your local reps.”

Bruce Giles General Manager First Utility District

stop working or even not be working up to par, heavy rains or other disasters could cause backups and overflows with devastating results.

“With summertime storms, or storms in general, we need our pump stations to stay in service, or we will have sewers

overflowing,” says Pat Spangler, director of capacity management operations and maintenance. “When we get these heavy rains, it is critical that we are not out of service for any length of time at some of our bigger stations, especially during off hours, at night.”

A sewer overflow in the Fort Loudoun Reservoir means that FUD has to file a report with the Tennessee Department. of Environment and Conservation saying what occurred, and take samples for sediment and pathogens.

“One of the things that all large wastewater systems strive for is to ensure that we don’t have sewer overflows during an outage, because it can take us to another level in terms of violating the Clean Water Act,” Giles says.

To provide backup power, the district utilizes four Cat® diesel generator sets: a 3306A, 3516B, Olympian CG060 and Olympian CG125.

“When we experience an outage, our Cat generators switch on and we continue to function as if we never lost power,” Giles says. “So it’s a critical component to ensure that we never lose power, as it’s not only a matter of regulatory compliance, but also the right thing to do for the environment and our customers.”

ISSUE NUMBER 19

CUSTOMERFEATURE A few years ago, the district experienced 70 or more sanitary sewer overflows a year. So far this year, the district’s sewer overflows tally just eight.

For the past four years, the FUD wastewater plant has earned the Operator Excellence Award for the State of Tennessee. The award stems from operational efficiencies and no violations of the district’s discharge monitoring permit during each of those 12-month periods.

Each pump station has multiple water pumps, and the station has to be able to handle the flow even if its largest pump is out, says operations project manager Brad Brummett.

The generator sets are set up with an immediate response in case of power failure, because if the pumps stop for just a few seconds, it can result in loss of pressure and serious water hammer.

Powerful pumps are pushing thousands of gallons of water out per hour, and if the pumps stop, the water flows backwards. When they start again, the pressure on the pumps is intense, hence the term water hammer.

“You don’t want that,” Spangler says.

“Water hammer can break things.”

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FUD Snapshot • Water customers – 33,619 • Sewer customers – 30,584 A reliable partner FUD has come to rely on its Cat dealer, Stowers Power Systems, to provide a quick response when a technical issue with one of the backup generators arises, Spangler says.

“It’s extremely important to have someone local who responds to us,” Spangler continues. “In this industry, things can happen, and we need to have someone nearby who can respond quickly. We can depend on the technicians from Stowers if there’s a problem, and we know that they’ll respond in a timely manner.”

Stowers Power Systems representatives have worked hand-inhand with FUD engineers, providing advice on how to dispose of older backup systems and what type of generators to select as replacements.

“We have a great relationship with Stowers,” Giles adds. “I am confident that if we needed them at 3 a.m. in the morning, they would be there right away. You can’t beat having a good relationship with your local reps.”

The diesel-powered generators are set up to automatically run under load for an hour every week, including a 15-minute cool-down cycle. Every pump station is maintenance checked

• Customer base is mainly residential and commercial no industry in FUD service area

Wastewater Collection System • Service area - 78 square miles • Population served - 85,000 • 25 wastewater pump stations

weekly, and all generators undergo annual load bank testing.

Giles says as pump stations are upgraded, that more Cat generator sets will be added. The same goes for the primary treatment system at the main wastewater treatment plant, where two Cat gensets will be installed to back up the system. Over the last three years, Cat generators were installed as part of two pump station upgrades.

“We have had no issues at all,” Spangler says. “The timing has been good, and the installations went well.

It has been a very good experience on our end.”

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CUSTOMERFEATURE

AHEAD of the

GAME

Utility builds on renewable energy assets with landfill gas

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incoln Electric System strives to be the world’s best energy company, providing a reliable supply of electric power at the lowest possible cost to more than 114,000 residential customers and 15,000 commercial and industrial customers.

And it aims to do so in an environmentally responsible manner.

A tall order, perhaps, but as a leader in renewable energy, Lincoln Electric System (LES) will supply more than 23 percent of its customers’ electrical demand with wind, solar, hydro and landfill gas power by 2016. Compared to the rate at which renewable power assets are being developed by other utilities across the country, the municipal utility serving Lancaster County, Neb. is way ahead of the game.

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ISSUE NUMBER 19

CUSTOMERFEATURE

Customer Profile

Lincoln Electric System (LES) Location:

Lincoln, Neb. Application: Landfill gas waste-to-

energy facility CAT® EQUIPMENT: 3520C generator

sets (3); 5kV XLM Paralleling Switchgear

engineering in LES’ power supply division.

“This project was a big part of that strategy because it supplies so much energy relative to its capacity compared to a wind farm,” Davlin says. “This is a local renewable resource, and constitutes a base load. It’s running whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining, so it’s something we can depend on 24/7.

The public has been very supportive of this project—it’s easy for them to understand its benefits.”

Those benefits include capturing and burning the greenhouse gas emanating from the landill, which equates to taking 24,000 cars off the road every year.

Methane, which the EPA says is 20 times more powerful as a heat trapping gas than carbon dioxide, was previously released into the atmosphere through vents. Electric power derived from three Cat® G3520C generator sets is enough to power 2,500 homes.

A cornerstone of its renewable portfolio opened last fall with a 4.8 MW landfill gas-to-energy project that pipes methane gas from the City of Lincoln’s Bluff Road Landfill to the nearby Terry Bundy Generating Station.

What makes the $13 million project a vital piece of LES’ renewable strategy is that power derived from the methane gas piped from the landfill is constant, and provides a steady source of electricity, says Tom Davlin, manager of projects FALL 2014

A consulting role Obtaining approval for the project was not an easy proposition, and took years to complete. While the generator sets were commissioned and became fully operational in fall 2013, the first conversations about the project took place 11 years earlier between Davlin and members of NMC Power Systems.

It wasn’t until April 2008 that the City of Lincoln solicited bids to determine the feasibility of capturing the landfill gas. More than three years later, the city

and LES signed a 20-year agreement for LES to purchase and convert all of the methane recovered from the Bluff Road landfill to electricity.

Before all of this could happen, Davlin had to sell management at Lincoln Electric System on the merits of the project. Over the years, four separate analyses were conducted identifying the economics of the project and the renewable energy benefits.

“Once I got the LES management on board, then we had to get the city’s administrative office to support the project and install the well field collection system,” Davlin recalls. “NMC supplying me with some capital cost for the equipment and providing some operating information was instrumental in going to the city and providing the information they needed to make an informed decision to actually collect the gas.

“Without the resources of NMC, I don’t think we could have actually justified this project and kept it alive as long as we did,” Davlin adds.

Steady performance The Terry Bundy Generating Station was already the site of LES’ natural gas turbine peaking facility, so it was an easy decision to place the generators in a location with existing manpower.

“They have been running pretty much continuously since November, and we have been very happy with their performance.” Davlin says of the three Cat gensets. “When they began running, we had a few commissioning issues, and that’s typical of any piece of sophisticated equipment. But once we resolved those issues, the generators have been running like really good soldiers.”

Adds plant manager Jim Dutton: “The attention these generator sets require has been minimal. They are pretty much hands free. Once you get them up and running and get the conditioning system going, the engines pretty much take care of themselves. Out of all the generating equipment we have on site, they are probably the easiest to run, and so far the most reliable.”

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CUSTOMERFEATURE

(L) Terry Bundy Generating Station (R) Monitoring Cat Switchgear

In a unique service agreement, LES signed a Total Maintenance and Repair contract with NMC for the duration of operation leading up to a major overhaul of all three engines.

“The service agreement with NMC basically relieves us of a lot of our responsibilities for day-today maintenance,” Davlin says. “We address the exceptions as they come up, and call NMC if there is something that they need to come out and look at as part of our agreement.”

From a staffing standpoint, the Terry Bundy Generating Station is a lean organization for a site of its size.

Initially, there were some concerns about how many additional man hours the landfill gas system and generator sets would require, Davlin says.

“But as it turns out, they’re not a big time consumer for the staff,” he says. “They’re just a few more pieces 14

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of equipment on the site that run when they need to run.”

The generation building is designed to handle the installation of several more generator sets, as the ultimate capacity of the landfill is 171 acres, or nearly three times its current capacity.

Inside the building where the generators are housed, Cat paralleling switchgear monitors both the gensets and the landfill gas treatment equipment.

“The main advantage we had of Caterpillar and NMC integrating the switchgear and the engines and the whole system is that through process, one PLS that manages the whole system,” Davlin says. “And that simplifies the operating and ongoing maintenance for us. We have one source of information that we bring up to the control room. Integrating the switchgear and the rest of the plant was a very big

issue. A seamless startup and smooth ongoing operations make the process a lot easier for our team.”

An easy choice As a public utility, LES was required to seek competitive bids for the project.

The choice was between Caterpillar and a European vendor, which submitted a cheaper bid. But when Davlin and his team conducted a thorough life-cycle analysis, the Caterpillar gensets were determined to be the more economical choice.

“So that’s why we decided to go with them,” Davlin say. “A side benefit is the domestic content of the product.

We have European equipment on this site where we have had issues getting support and timely responses. So we were very happy that Caterpillar came out as the lowest life-cycle cost option for this plant. A big advantage for us ISSUE NUMBER 19

CUSTOMERFEATURE

Special Treatment Special Treatment Landfill gas treatment system removes impurities

The City of Lincoln’s 60-acre Bluff Road landfill is located 10 miles north of downtown Lincoln, and has 54 wells that collect gas and funnel it to an onsite gas treatment system, where moisture and contaminants are removed. From there, the gas travels through a two-mile long underground pipeline to the generating station.

One of the unique aspects of the project is the generator sets include a CO2 catalyst that controls carbon dioxide emissions. A consideration for installing the gas treatment system is that the Cat® engines require an oxidation catalyst for EPA emissions purposes.

The landfill also has a relatively high quantity of siloxanes, which are fine silica that can create havoc with the Cat generator sets that run on the gas.

At the 60-acre landfill site, a refrigeration system removes moisture from the gas. At that point, it goes to a carbon bed system where the carbon removes the siloxane and hydrogen sulfide, which is the other primary pollutant in the landfill gas.

“When we looked at this project, we decided it would be beneficial to remove the siloxanes using a gas processing system that we purchased through NMC,” says Tom Davlin, manager of projects engineering for Lincoln Electric System. “The side benefit of that, of not only reducing the wear on our engines, is that it lowered our long-term service agreement costs. By cleaning up the gas, it was cheaper to maintain the engines, and that saved us in the long run on the maintenance agreement that we have with NMC.” While working with the gas treatment system has proved to be a challenge, Davlin is satisfied that he made the correct choice in recommending it. was having somebody local to provide immediate support.”

LES works with a number of vendors at the generating station, and Davlin places NMC in the top tier.

“Being local helps, and having a long-term relationship—I have been working together with the power systems specialists at NMC or 12 or more years on this—so all of that adds up to making the project a lot more successful because you have local people working together to make the project successful. And that’s important to us.

“As we go forward, we want to continue to run our landfill gas at full capacity,” Davlin continues. “The next time the landfill expands, we’re going to have to look at purchasing another engine, and we want to make sure that we have the option to continue to work with NMC on that.”

FALL 2014

“It takes some fine-tuning and field experience to get it right,” he says. “That’s the part of the overall system that has taken the most work to get right, and finally, I think we’re pretty happy with it. As we become more familiar with the system, I think things are only going to get better.”

RUNREADY

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At the Guangzhou Zhujiang BreweryHelp Group Co.,You Ltd. in China, Our Experts Will Getthe biogas recovered from the brewing process is used to generate electricity – while transforming the Job Done—Right excess heat from the generator’s exhaust into a cooling source. It starts with a Cat® gas power system, which converts waste into sustainable energy, lowering

Whether you’re installing a back-up generator for your small business, working your operating costs and improving efficiency. And it’s backed by the support of local with an engineering firm to upgrade your manufacturing plant, or designing a Cat Gas Power Systems experts, who will help keep your business going nonstop. new power station from ground up, our Power Systems experts can provide the right level of support—right when you need it. Depend on our experts to help you: • Reduce risks and delays that could impact your timeline • Understand the necessary permits and approvals required • Manage proper installation To watch the rest of the story.

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