Capstone™ MicroTurbines

If your business needs continuous, reliable, cost-effective on-site power, a Capstone™ MicroTurbine from Alliant Energy can provide an innovative solution.

How it works:

These compact generators - not much bigger than a standard refrigerator - use a small turbine to produce clean, secure, premium power right on your site.

Combinations of Capstones can provide electrical power from 30 kW to 500 kW or more.

The rotating components are mounted on a single shaft, supported by patented air bearings that rotate up to 96,000 RPMs at full load.

The generator is cooled by airflow into the gas turbine, eliminating the need for liquid cooling. System output is variable frequency (50/60 Hz) AC power.

For more details, take a Virtual Technology Tour at the Capstone Web site.

Unmatched advantages:

The benefits of a Capstone MicroTurbine are significant:

• Reliability: With high quality, uninterrupted power, your critical systems will be protected from unplanned downtime and power outages.
• Cost-effectiveness: Microturbines allow you to take advantage of load management, peak shaving and standby functions. You can also use recovered exhaust heat for space heating, water heating or industrial processes.
• Fuel options: Capstone units can operate with a variety of different fuels, including natural gas, kerosene, biogas, diesel and liquid propane, allowing for flexibility in any installation, including remote locations.
• Low maintenance: Microturbines operate virtually maintenance-free. Routine maintenance consists only of cleaning the air and fuel filter.
• Clean, quiet operation: Capstone systems operate with no vibration and far less noise, making it ideal for noise-sensitive applications such as hospitals, schools and assisted-living facilities.
• Environmentally friendly: Microturbines create little environmental impact, offering the lowest nitrogen oxide emissions of all combustion systems. A traditional 30 kW diesel generator emits more nitrogen oxide in one hour than a Capstone unit does in more than nine days of full-load operation.

Read on to learn how other Midwest organizations have utilized microturbines, then contact your Alliant Energy account manager to learn more.

A Conservation Improvement Program (CIP) microturbine installation is capturing methane biogas produced by the Albert Lea wastewater treatment facility and cleanly burning the gas to generate electricity and heat.

The facility has four 30 kW microturbines that can produce 2,500 kWh of electricity per day at peak gas production and 28 million BTUs of heat per day.

The City of Albert Lea and the State of Minnesota each purchased two Capstone MicroTurbines from Alliant Energy. The units were installed in summer 2003 by Unison Solutions of Dubuque, Iowa.

The Albert Lea project met the requirements to be a CIP project because it saves electricity and/or natural gas by using distributed generation and cost effectively utilizes renewable fuels.

With assistance from Alliant Energy-Wisconsin Power and Light and subsidiary RMT, Inc., the Sauk County Landfill near Baraboo is now capturing methane gas from decomposing waste and burning it to generate electricity.

The facility has sixteen 30kW Capstone™ MicroTurbines that generate enough electricity to power about 400 average-size homes.

“These microturbines produce lower emissions than burning off the methane in an open flare,” said Peter Bock, administrator, Wisconsin Division of Energy. “This project is not only generating revenue for Sauk County, it's helping the environment.”

When the city of Milwaukee decided to convert an historic water tower into office space on the city's south side, it selected an innovative power source: a natural gas-powered Capstone MicroTurbine.

Alliant Energy sold the 60-kilowatt microturbine to the city in December 2003 and installation was completed in spring 2004.

The system generates supplemental power during peak demand times and serves as a backup generator. The project funding included $100,000 in grants.

To study the long-term energy-saving capabilities, the city government and the Milwaukee School of Engineering programmed the turbine to cycle on and off depending on the market price of natural gas and the building's peak load demand.

“It's quite a comprehensive study and we're excited about the possibilities,” said Joseph Jacobsen, operations and maintenance manager with Milwaukee's Department of Public Works. “We'll look at reliability, energy efficiency and cost effectiveness.”