POWER July 2014 - 44

DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
Blurring the Line Between
Temporary and Permanent Power
Temporary power may be the most widely distributed " distributed " generation
worldwide, and its distribution is spreading, thanks to its ability to quickly
meet urgent needs not only for event, construction, and post-disaster emergency
power but also for fast-growing economies and stressed grids. That's
making it a serious competitor for " permanent " power in some situations.
Gail Reitenbach, PhD
W
hen " temporary power " supplies
nearly a quarter of a grid's demand,
is it still temporary power? How
about when a project lasts 10 years?
Those questions were prompted by an announcement
on Mar. 31 that temporary power
provider Aggreko was increasing its gridconnected
generation capacity on Bali to 170
MW-representing 23% of the island province's
total electricity demand. The appeal of
power rental in Bali is directly connected to
an economy that is growing at roughly 9.75%
per year, according to Scotland-based Aggreko,
which has been in business for more
than 50 years.
As for the 10-year-long project, that was a
Cummins contract at a gold mine in Bulghah,
Saudi Arabia, located hundreds of miles from
the country's electrical grid, that produced
82,000 ounces of gold per year using what
Cummins calls its " Prime Power System. "
The project was particularly challenging,
Cummins General Manager for Rental Projects
Rick Duncan said, due to the environmental
challenges associated with ambient
temperatures of 55C (131F) and excessive
dust levels.
APR Energy Chief Operating Officer Brian
Rich directly addressed the shifting focus of
the major players in this sector when he commented,
" We view many of our plants to be
semi-permanent in that they can integrate
seamlessly into existing permanent infrastructure
(Figure 1), using the same technol1.
" Semi-permanent " power. APR Energy's 200-MW mobile turbine plant in Uruguay
sits next to the permanent turbine plant of national utility UTE in Punta del Tigre. The utility had
a strong preference for dual-fuel gas turbines given its familiarity with the technology and the
country's strict environmental regulations. It also needed a solution that would integrate into its
current site and infrastructure. Courtesy: APR Energy
ogy [gas turbines], and run reliably for many
years if needed, just as permanent infrastructure
would. Many of our customers are running
our plants as a baseload operation, where
we are supplying a significant portion of the
country's electricity and providing power to
millions of people. "
A somewhat newer but ambitious player,
10-year-old Saudi Arabia-based Altaaqa,
explained that its business, too, is responding
to the " continuously increasing " gap between
supply and demand, especially in light
of significant economic development in specific
regions. " This increase in demand that
sometimes cannot be catered for by the available
grid is causing temporary power solutions
to have longer timeframes, and the term
'temporary' can sometimes extend to several
months or even years, " said Andrew Keddis,
business development manager.
Defining " Temporary "
Calling power service temporary doesn't
quite capture all of its distinguishing attributes.
It's temporary rather than permanent,
rented rather than owned, and mobile rather
than fixed. It's also modular and easily scalable.
Ask some of the major companies
in the power rental space how they define
temporary power, and some even shy away
from that term because their projects run six
months or longer and range up to 450 MW
in size.
APR Energy's Rich explained, " When
we think of 'temporary' power, we think of
short-term rental contracts, typically of a year
duration or less, including event power. APR
Energy has removed 'temporary power' from
our vernacular. Rather than focus on shortterm
rental projects, we instead work to develop
long-term, larger-scale power projects
that bridge customers until their permanent
infrastructure is in place. "
Cummins' Duncan told POWER, " In the
44
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