Ingersoll-Rand
Company
World
Headquarters
Public
Affairs
200
Chestnut Ridge Road
Woodcliff
Lake, NJ 07677
The Role of Microturbines and Distributed
Power Generation in Addressing
America’s Energy Problems
By Rone Lewis III, Senior Vice President
of Ingersoll-Rand (IR)
and President of IR’s Independent Power
Sector
For Submission
to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works;
Chairman Bob
Smith’s (R-NH) Field Hearing in Durham, NH
May 30, 2001
Thank
you for giving me the opportunity to submit for the Senate Environment and
Public Works hearing record my testimony on the role of microturbine technology
and distributed power generation in addressing America’s growing energy crisis.
First,
let me begin by giving you some background information on Ingersoll-Rand and
its Independent Power Sector.
Ingersoll-Rand is an $8.8 billion company with more than 50,000
employees operating in over 100 countries.
We serve four major global markets:
climate control, industrial productivity, infrastructure and security
and safety. In the area of Industrial
Productivity, I am president of IR’s Independent Power sector, which focuses on
identifying, developing and marketing alternative-power and energy-management
solutions.
As
you may be aware, Chairman Smith and Members of the Committee, a new type of
electrical generator, called a microturbine, is rapidly becoming available to
fit the electricity and heating needs of typical commercial buildings and
industrial plants. About the size of a commercial refrigerator, microturbines
hold great promise in supplying America’s facilities with reliable and
affordable power.
Microturbines
are small combustion turbines that produce anywhere from 25 to 500 kilowatts of
electric power. They burn a variety of
fuels such as natural gas or diesel to produce the same kind of electricity
provided by a utility electrical grid.
Because the gas turbine engine has relatively few moving parts, it is quite
reliable and can operate for long periods - typically 8,000 hours or more -
with little maintenance. Microturbines
produce very low emissions as they burn fuel.
They are designed to easily meet stringent environmental regulations,
including California’s strict emission standards. Microturbines are also relatively quiet emitting low noise
levels.
Our
PowerWorks brand of microturbines, which has been in development for more than
10 years, is coming to market this fall. The headquarters for the engineering
and manufacturing of the PowerWorks microturbine is located in Portsmouth, NH,
on the former Pease Air Force Base.
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Rone
Lewis Testimony
These
microturbines, which will provide 70 kilowatts of energy to customers, are
designed to be placed in or near facilities such as hotels, supermarkets,
hospitals, laundries, multi-family dwellings, schools and greenhouses, to name
a few. These are locations that need a
reliable, cost-effective and efficient energy source for electricity and
heat.
A
$1.4 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy contributed to
the development of the PowerWorks microturbine, which is designed to meet the
same high standards found in chillers, boilers and furnaces. Our microturbines
are manufactured to operate for approximately 10 years under typical operating
conditions. Through their cogeneration capability, the PowerWorks microturbines
can also fulfill a facility’s hot water and other heating requirements.
PowerWorks
connects directly to the electrical distribution system of a facility to
provide high quality electricity. Our
microturbines work 24 hours a day, seven days a week for long periods with low
maintenance. Designed to help satisfy electric power needs by producing
electricity at the point of consumption, the PowerWorks microturbine also
supports peak shaving applications. This means that microturbines can enable
businesses and consumers to reduce their reliance on the power grid, especially
during costly peak use hours.
IR
began the field-testing phase of its microturbine development program last fall
in several kinds of facilities located throughout the United States. We plan to introduce our first commercial
production units in the second half of 2001.
There
is no argument that this country’s need for this type of energy is increasing
at a steady rate. California’s energy
crisis underscores the need for increased energy efficiency, cleaner
technologies and more reliable production.
Deregulation, volatile energy pricing and tighter emission regulations
have all prompted an interest in energy alternatives, such as “green”
technologies like the microturbines.
And there is probably no better way to get reliable and affordable
energy than from your own, on-site generating equipment.
Distributed
energy holds great promise in the United States for improving the generation of
electricity. The report released
recently by Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force revealed that this
Administration is committed to the use of renewable and alternative energy, and
specifically that “microturbines could easily capture a significant share of
the distributed generation market.”
Furthermore,
the Cheney Report was absolutely accurate in noting several challenges to the
use of distributed energy. First, there
is a lack of national, uniform standards
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Rone Lewis
Testimony
governing
interconnection of distributed energy to the local power grids, which is
hampering the roll-out of the technology into the local marketplace. The microturbine industry needs a
consistent, reliable process for grid interconnection approval that focuses
on
practical and cost effective safety requirements; a timely approval process
that prevents foot dragging on distributed power projects; and no punitive
charges from the utility for either disconnecting from the grid or using the
grid as a backup. The industry is also
interested in support for selling unused power back to the power grid.
Long-standing
regulatory policies that support monopoly supplies also must be reversed. This will increase competition, and
encourage the development and environmentally-friendly alternative energy
technologies. The Cheney Report
correctly states, “The tools that form the necessary interface between
distributed energy systems and the grid need to be less expensive, faster, more
reliable and more compact.”
We
are pleased that the report recommends that the President direct Energy
Secretary Abraham to focus R&D efforts on integrating current alternative
technology programs regarding distributed energy, hydrogen and fuel cells. Fuel cell technology is of particular
interest to IR because several of our industrial products currently utilize
diesel engines. Fuel cell technology
promises a more environmentally sound alternative and continued federal
research programs can accelerate the development of these programs.
All
developers of microturbine technology would be interested in Congressional and
Administration support for tax credits for companies who install or use
microturbine technology. Tax credits
are essential to helping businesses finance their utilization of this
technology, just as they have with other alternative energy sources, such as
solar power. In addition, continued
investment in our nation’s natural gas infrastructure will help to ensure that
a ready supply of natural gas is available.
We
look forward to working with the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee,
the rest of the Congress, and the Bush Administration to develop the necessary
regulatory and legislative support that would make power from microturbine
technology more readily available. We
believe that once the technical, business and regulatory barriers are removed,
distributed power generation will be able to fulfill its promise to America.
Thank
you.
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