POWER July 2014 - 47

DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
3 Turbine on wheels. GE's trailer-mounted (TM) mobile gas turbine generators, including
the TM2500 shown here, supply power for 50-Hertz and 60-Hertz applications using essentially
the same technology as that used in " permanent " gas turbine power plants employing the
LM2500 turbine. Courtesy: GE Power & Water
cated on the Mozambique and South African
border at Ressano Garcia. The project is producing
and delivering power to Electricidade
de Mozambique (EDM), Eskom, and NamPower
(the Namibian power utility). This is
thought to be the first project by a private
company to supply power to multiple utilities
in Southern Africa, underlining the potential
benefits that can accrue to countries sharing
resources. "
Technology Trends
Shantaram noted that Aggreko's basic business
of " delivering flexible power solutions
anytime, anywhere " hasn't changed much
in a savings of millions of dollars a year in
fuel and operation and maintenance expenses
for the U.S. military. At the time, this plant
was the U.S. military's largest expeditionary
prime power plant serving a military base.
Like other global players in this market,
Cummins also provides temporary power
solutions to public utility companies where
projects are awarded for terms of three years
or more. " A couple of decades ago, customers
relied more on 'spot' generation, which
involved placing small generators near a
place of power demand. This was quick and
easy, but resulted in fuel consumption inefficiencies,
lower reliability, and high cost of
equipment. The trend now is to have consolidated
'prime power plants,' where a central
power plant is leveraged and power is supplied
through a distribution network. This
has resulted in high plant load factors, high
plant utility factors, and high reliability, driving
down capital costs as well as operation
and maintenance costs. "
Keddis told POWER that in Saudi Arabia,
the type of power demand is driven by the
" change in socioeconomic trends and government
spending. For example, we have
noticed a significant increase in Saudi Arabia's
entertainment industry business that
we didn't have few years ago. Furthermore,
new types of projects such as railway and
metro projects are starting in Saudi Arabia
and are using Altaaqa's services; supplying
power to tunnel boring machines for metro
projects, for example, is a unique new experience
for Altaaqa. Saudi Arabia is working
towards diversifying its economy from being
heavily dependent on petroleum to other
sources of revenue such as mining, petrochemicals
and other industries. That in turn
reflects on the diversity of projects requiring
power. "
Altaaqa is the official Caterpillar partner
July 2014 | POWER
www.powermag.com
47
for power rental and temporary power solutions
in Saudi Arabia, and all Altaaqa services
are provided by CAT diesel engines. Its
longest-running project is a 16-MW temporary
power station supplying a mall in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia, that has been operating
for six years.
Another type of new playing field is the
multinational one. Aggreko is producing and
delivering cross-border power to three utility
companies in Southern Africa (Figure 2).
Shantaram explained that the 232-MW temporary
power site " uses natural gas from the
Temane gas fields as a fuel source and is loClean
Diesel?
Diesel engines-whether in vehicles or
stationary power systems-have a reputation
for dirty emissions. But when it comes
to the latest generation of technology,
that reputation is becoming outdated.
The Diesel Technology Forum (DTF), a
U.S. industry group formed in 2000 that
promotes the use of " clean diesel, " says
that today's diesel generators " emit 26
times less particulate matter than those
manufactured 10 years ago. "
Diesel generators used for other than
emergency use are subject to a variety
of federal, state, and local regulations
in the U.S. and abroad. " In 2006, the
EPA finalized the first national emission
standards for new stationary diesel engines
under the New Source Performance
Standards (NSPS), " the DTF notes. " The
NSPS requires all new diesel engines to
be certified to emission standards that
generally follow EPA's non-road or marine
mobile emissions standards which generally
require over 90 percent reduction in
emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen
oxide. "
The DTF notes that " [o]ver the 2011-
2015 period, EPA requirements will mean
that emissions for all non-emergency diesel
generators regardless of horsepower rating
will be approaching a near-zero level. "
It adds that, since October 2010, most
diesel fuel used in diesel-powered generators
has been ultra-low-sulfur diesel
(ULSD) fuel (no more than 15 ppm sulfur).
Using ULSD in existing units reduces particulate
matter emissions by 10% to 20%,
and when cleaner fuel is used in today's
new technology lower-emissions engines,
the DTF says that particulate matter will
be reduced by 90% compared to engines
made before 2011.
" Clean diesel, " is appears, is more than
just a catchy slogan.
over five decades, but the technology has.
" Today we have generators that range from
10 KW right up to 1 MW, and deliver our
solutions in stackable, 20-foot containers
for efficient transportation by road, rail,
ship, or plane. "
Diesel-powered internal combustion engines
have been the go-to technology in this
part of the generation world. However, gas
gensets and turbines are becoming much
more common.
APR's Rich argued that one of the biggest
innovations in this sector has been the use of
mobile turbines: " Before 2011, utilities were
forced to use smaller-MW reciprocating engine
power modules because that was the
only feasible fast-track solution. As mobile
turbine technology has developed and become
available, utilities have turned to them

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POWER July 2014

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