Page 106 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

Top to bottom: Turbine at BP plant in Cusiana, Colombia; Brian Kennedy/L & Gene Hamilton at installation in Cusiana, Colombia
Molano, Peterson’s contact at Energy Internation- al—the local Cat dealer and general contractor for the project—knows the political terrain well. “Back then the security situation was very un- stable. The guerilla group FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia], has been in power for the past fifty years, but today, the government puts much more effort into dealing with their violence,” explains Molano. Still, BP’s Cusiana plant was out in the middle of a large savannah with dense eight- foot-tall grass filled with drug traffickers and who knows what.
“We were still babies at this thing,” states Hamil- ton, who took Peterson technician Brian Kenne- dy with him to help supervise the initial turbine
set up. “We had no clue. I spent a lot of time de- veloping procedures on how to install and com- mission our new mobile turbines and how to do safety checks and develop customer relations. The customer had no idea what they were doing either, so it was a painful process compared to where we’re at today.” At night Hamilton could hear gunshots outside, beyond the compound’s double fencing and barbed wire barrier. The Colombians told him not to worry: “It’s just the troops out practicing their marksmanship.” The job introduced a whole new set of international logistics and legal issues since it was Peterson’s first overseas turbine ven- ture. Still, having even one turbine out on rent beat a yard full of inventory sitting idle.
MARKHAM, ONTARIO
All along, Peterson’s strategy was to rent its way to profitability versus selling the turbines at a loss. It was that third turbine rental—in Markham, Ontario in conjunction with Toromont, the local Cat dealer—that ultimately kicked everything into high gear. The Ontario Electric Corporation had anticipated a power shortfall in the summer of 2003 and put out a request for proposals for 300 MW of temporary power.Toromont-Cat won 98 MW’s of the 300 MW to be sited in an open field in Markham. The Markham project was a phenom- enal success, going from green field to 98 MW of power in just six weeks. For Peterson, it was the very thing that ignited their mobile turbine market and got the phones ringing again.
BECOMING SUSTAINABLE
Peterson has still not done any turbine business in California—Hamilton’s initial target market. “California was never the right fit for our busi- ness model,” says Hamilton. “They wanted huge 50 MW turbines and our niche is 5 to 20 MW. And they wanted to buy electric power for permanent installations. They took a very different approach
104 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG