South Coast Air Quality Management District

Execute Contract to Monitor Power Production by Microturbine Generators

SYNOPSIS: 

The Board previously authorized the purchase and installation of microturbine generators (MTGs) at various sites from the AES and LADWP Settlement Funds. This project will monitor, archive, and analyze MTG operational data from all sites. Results will be made available to AQMD and other interested parties on a web site. This information will help advance this relatively clean distributed generation technology, and provide other technical data relative to the performance and reliability of MTGs. Staff recommends funding for this project in an amount not to exceed $75,000 from the Clean Fuels Fund.

COMMITTEE: 

Technology, July 27, 2001, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Authorize the Executive Officer to execute a contract with the University of California, Irvine, in an amount not to exceed $75,000 from the Clean Fuels Fund, to collect, store, organize and analyze operational data from AQMD-donated microturbine generators and make the resulting information available on the Internet.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

California is now undergoing an electric power supply shortage that is expected to become especially severe during this summer and the summer of 2002. As a result of this power crisis, deployment of small on-site power generation units at user sites, known as "distributed generation" (DG), is expected to be a major factor in the local power supply structure.

At present, the most commonly used DG technology is diesel generators, which are relatively high emitters of NOx and PM. Capstone™ microturbine generators (MTGs) are a new DG technology that operate on gaseous fuels and emit much lower NOx and PM per unit power produced than diesel generators.

In Board actions of April 20, May 11 and June 15, 2001, AQMD committed to donating and supporting the installation of MTGs to power users in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, from the AES and LADWP settlement funds, for a combined generating capacity of about 5 MW. A total of 34 recipients have been selected to receive MTGs. Installations are now in progress, and installations at all 34 sites are expected to be completed this summer. As part of a "Microturbine Site Agreement", AQMD requires each MTG recipient to operate during peak electricity demand periods, to reduce the load on the grid. The University of California, Irvine (UCI) is providing technical support to MTG installations under an existing task-order type contract with AQMD previously approved by the Board.

Proposal

It is proposed that AQMD contract with UCI to monitor and chronicle the operation of the AQMD-donated MTGs at the various installation sites beginning as sites become operational this summer and extending through the summer of 2002.

Capstone MTGs are equipped with instrumentation for continuous measurement of operational parameters, and each MTG site is equipped with a modem to enable transmission of the operational data to a remote site. In this proposed project, UCI will establish communications between a central computer, located at UCI, and the modems at the various MTG sites and will set up a central capability to gather and archive the MTG operational data from all sites. The archived data will be processed to develop a useful history of the MTG operation at each site and summarized operational information for the collective body of MTG sites. The raw data and processed results will be made available to AQMD and other interested parties via the Internet on a web site to be created and managed by UCI. Shortly following the monitoring period (ending October 31, 2002), UCI will prepare a final report characterizing the MTG sites and summarizing the power production results of the AQMD program.

Expected Benefits

This project is necessary for AQMD to have a quantitative and up-to-date knowledge of the electric power generation resulting from its MTG program. This information is needed to assure that MTG recipients are making appropriate use of the generating capacity. In addition, technical information on MTG operations will also help develop future operational scenarios and control techniques for maximizing power production with minimum emissions. Availability of this information to other interested parties, by establishing day-to-day operation of MTGs in a broad array of settings, supports AQMD’s objective of fostering this new, relatively clean DG technology.

Sole Source Justification

AQMD’s Procurement Policy and Procedure, adopted January 9, 1998, Section VIII.B.2, lists a number of conditions under which AQMD may enter into a contract on a sole-source basis. It is recommended that AQMD select UCI for this project on a sole-source basis based on condition VIII.B.2.a, in that the cost of AQMD labor to conduct a competitive bidding process would exceed any savings that may result, and condition VIII.B.2.c.(1), in that UCI possesses unique experience and capabilities to perform this project. UCI has excellent capabilities in data management and evaluation, has unique familiarity with distributed generation concepts including MTG equipment, instrumentation, data transmission and data handling software and is also uniquely familiar with the AQMD MTG program including the sites at which the MTGs will be installed. UCI staff who will perform this project have been engaged for many years in development of data acquisition system capabilities, stemming from needs to deal with high-speed data acquisition for spatially and temporally resolved data within reaction zones of combustion systems. More recently, this expertise has expanded to encompass information technology for distributed generation technologies in order to provide both monitoring and control of ditributed resources in a robust and secure networked data communication system. UCI staff includes individuals who are acknowledged in the scientific community as experts in R&D work on MTGs. UCI has been engaged in a large program in which it has developed test protocols and conducted comparative performance and emissions testing of MTG products. UCI has a working relationship with the manufacturer of the MTGs being donated by AQMD and is thus particularly familiar with its products. In working with AQMD under the existing task-order contract, UCI has become familiar with the sites at which the MTGs are being installed.

Resource Impacts

The total amount of AQMD funding for the proposed project will not exceed $75,000.

Sufficient funds are available from the Clean Fuels Fund, established as a special revenue fund resulting from the state-mandated Clean Fuels Program. Funds are available from fees received from stationary sources within the AQMD, and must be utilized for sponsoring research and development projects on stationary sources by state law.

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