Capstone microturbines for Japanese chemical company

Capstone’s Japan distributor will supply seven C65 microturbines to a chemical company in Japan. The new machines will replace existing units that have logged 80,000 hours of continuous operation.

Capstone Green Energy Corp. announced that its distributor in Japan, Kanamoto, has secured a contract to provide seven C65 microturbine systems to a Japanese firm in the chemical industry.

Out of 44 Capstone units currently in operation at the Japanese site, the new systems will replace seven units that have reached 80,000 hours of continuous service. The units were previously covered by a 10-year Factory Protection Plan (FPP) that ended in December 2021.

Fueled by high-pressure natural gas (HPNG), the new systems will be designed to provide combined heat and power (CHP), providing maximum efficiency in the production process for which the power will be used, Capstone said. At the same time, the waste heat produced by the microturbines will be captured and used for drying processes required by the chemical plant, a site that has been in operation for 20 years.

The new systems are expected to be commissioned in July 2022. This is the only installation in Japan where 44 units have been installed in one location.

“The Capstone Green Energy microturbine’s lightweight and compact footprint met the customer’s site requirements while using the clean exhaust gas directly in the drying furnace, perfectly matching the customer’s thermal requirements,” said Kanamoto’s manager, Atsushi Isono. “Despite the harsh environment in which this continuous-duty application operates, the customer feels confident in the long-term viability of the system due to the FPP contract in place. The 80,000 hours of operation and FPP contract is what allowed us to win a second end-of-life replacement contract.”