The on-site energy sector is growing, with companies such as Rolls-Royce increasing their involvement. The reason is that the grid is showing its age -- and lack of investment.
A division of Rolls-Royce – MTU Onsite Energy – is offering a generator set featuring Mercedes-Benz diesel engines, according to a story from Microgrid Knowledge.
One of the reasons users want onsite power is that organizations want to have a reliable backup in case of a general failure. That’s always been the case, but the possibility of a problem is increasing as the utility grid grows older and less investments are made in modernization. In addition, the story says, environmental regulations are raising the cost of coal plants. Consequently, fewer are being built. A third reason that on-site energy is growing simply is that legal requirements in some cases demand a certain level of reliable backup power.
These factors led to Rolls-Royce’s entry. The engines being sold by MTU provide 80 kilowatt-electric (kWe) to 200 kWe of power.
Statz Brothers in Wisconsin have retained MTU Onsite Energy to provide heat and power for its dairy facility. The installation, according to Cogeneration and On-Site Power Production, will produce 763 kWe and 2.4 million BTUs of heat per hour.
