Page 247 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

install a new engine on a standby generator that only runs twenty hours a year,” says Matt George, Power’s general service manager from 2006-2017. In 2016, George’s team worked on several standby generator after-treatment projects. “In some cases, the cost of the after-treatment for the exhaust sys- tem was more than buying a brand-new compliant generator package,” says George. “Sometimes it just doesn’t pencil out.”
ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS: BIOFUELS
In 1997, the City of Sunnyvale installed two large 16-cylinder Cat G3516 natural gas engines at their wastewater treatment plant to capture the
energy of their methane by-product. Another cus- tomer, Dry Creek Landfill near Medford, Oregon, plumbed their entire landfill to collect methane gas in 2006 for the same purpose. And in 2009, Stahl- bush Island Farms in Corvallis, Oregon upgraded their facility with an anaerobic digester powered by a 20-cylinder Cat G3520C generator to turn their crop by-products into biofuel.
“These biogas projects were at the forefront of the Green Energy boom,” states Marty Hopkins, com- mercial engines sales rep for Peterson Power out of Oregon. “The utilities were looking for reliable sources of renewable energy. By capturing meth- ane before it dissipates into the atmosphere, these customers created enough electricity to run their facilities and then sell the surplus back to the util- ities.” As solar power and wind projects have be- come more popular, the lucrative power-purchase contracts and government incentives have dried up for landfill projects. However, the digester market continues to grow—both for private and munic- ipal customers. Hopkins and the Peterson Power gas team continue to look for more opportunities in the biogas, natural gas, and cogeneration mar- kets. Whereas the Stahlbush system can produce 1.6 megawatts of electricity, Hopkins’ team is now selling packages to wastewater treatment plants
Top, counter-clockwise: Dry Creek Landfill’s landfill-gas-to-energy project, near Medford, Oregon, is powered by two Cat 3520 engines in 2009; (L-R) Duane Doyle Sr./Peterson CEO, Marty Hopkins/Peterson commercial engine sales, Eric Martin/Peterson Power GM in 2007
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