Capstone Microturbines For Hotel Upgrade

Capstone Turbine Corp. announced that it secured an order for a global hotel chain for three C65 ICHP microturbines to be installed in one of its hotels in Northern California. Cal Microturbine, Capstone’s exclusive distributor in California, Hawaii and Nevada, and non-exclusive in Washington and Oregon, secured the order, which is expected to be commissioned next spring.

Three low-pressure natural gas-fueled C65 ICHP microturbines will provide up to 195 kW of power and 1.2 MMBTU/hr of hot water to offset utility power purchase and boiler natural gas use. The microturbine array will be installed in a combined heat and power (CHP) application resulting in increased efficiency, helping the hotel achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

The unnamed global hotel chain is a leader in the eco-innovation space, Capstone said, and continues to pilot the adoption of clean energy across its portfolio of hotel brands.

“The hospitality industry has evolved substantially over the last several years. Today LEED certification with energy efficiency measures, low emission on-site power generation, eco-friendly building materials, waste reduction, and local sustainability practices are quickly becoming the rule, not the exception,” said Darren Jamison, President and CEO of Capstone Turbine. “It’s not surprising with an estimated 30-40% of the world’s population having grown up with climate change as part of everyday life. As this new generation becomes a more significant part of the global consumer base, its unsurprisingly going to drive business to shift to green.”

Modular Design

A modular design also allows all three microturbines to operate continuously, even during times of maintenance. Because each unit has only one moving part, such maintenance costs are dramatically lower than those required for more traditional power generation systems. The addition of acoustic inlet hoods reduces package sound ratings to those of standard boiler systems.

“Capstone’s C65 ICHP units have nearly 20 years of proven fielded experience across thousands of installations, this experience has made the C65 ICHP unit a gold standard among the sub 600 kW distributed energy technology space,” said Marc Rouse, vice president of Sales for Cal Microturbine. “The C65 ICHP is truly a plug and play combined heat and power replacement for traditional boiler units, providing our customers significant operating cost savings with very little operator interaction.”