Capstone Turbine is seeing increased interest from corporate customers for environmentally friendly or green technology products.

Since 1988, Capstone Turbine Corp. has been committed to developing green technologies. The company was founded in an effort to create a small power plant for hybrid-electric vehicles. The company, at that time, began research and development efforts as many technology startup firms did, and then proceeded forward with plans in the early ‘90s after securing venture capital funds.

According to Mark Gilbreth, COO, interim president and CEO, the company was involved in a number of hybrid-electric vehicle programs until 1996.

Several successful programs were demonstrated; however, the company's automotive partners made decisions to "continue to pursue near-term development programs with incremental changes to existing internal combustion engine platforms."

At that time, Capstone changed its focus to the stationary power market, including combined heat and power, combined cooling heating and power, renewable energy and secure power applications. Gilbreth says the company has established itself as the leader in microturbine technology with more than 3,500 units sold and more than 12 million operating hours.

"That is, by far, more that any other microturbine manufacturer and rivals some larger turbine engine manufacturers," he states.

"Capstone continues to be well-positioned in the co-generation market with our 30kW and 65kW products. Our products offer high efficiency, low maintenance and reliable power solutions for projects sized to handle one or multiple Capstone MicroTurbine systems.

"As we look to some future opportunities of the industry, our products are well-positioned to support applications in areas with increasing electric rates, growing electric distribution demands and more stringent air quality emissions standards."

Capstone's customers are facilities that have high thermal loads, including air conditioning and hot water needs.

These facilities include schools, hospitals, hotels and manufacturing process plants, as well as office buildings. Other customer opportunities exist with biogas applications, including landfills, waste water treatment plants, farm digesters, and oil and gas applications, such as offshore platforms, flares and gas distribution pipelines.

The product's small, compact size, low-maintenance requirements and ability to operate on natural gas make it ideally suited for unmanned offshore platforms, Gilbreth explains.

Entrepreneurial enthusiasm
Gilbreth says Capstone's 230 employees make an enthusiastic team that combines experience from most areas of the industry. "Our people have the expertise and entrepreneurial spirit to make things happen," he notes.

"The team has a vision for how this product's high-efficiency, low-maintenance features can make an industry impact for shareholders, customers and the environment."

The company is seeing increased interest from corporate customers for environmentally friendly or green technology products.

"As electricity rates continue to rise and they experience increased downtime due to blackouts, we believe these factors can have an impact on our opportunity for potential future sales," he says. "We are really seeing a push from large commercial businesses to begin to address some of these global issues and make changes."