Gas Power to the People
A number of UK businesses are suffering from the high price of
fixed energy tariffs made back in September 2008, with many paying
over 50 per cent above the current market rate. Aggreko, the world
leader in temporary power and temperature control solutions,
believes that alternative sources of energy, such as gas powered
generators, could provide cheaper, more flexible electricity.
Businesses that use at least 1 MW of continuous power, have
access to an industrial scale gas supply and are paying over
6p/kWhr for their electricity could be making significant savings
on their current tariffs. Aggreko has recently installed natural
gas powered generators in a UK manufacturing business, which has
confirmed savings of up to 50 per cent on their fixed tariff. The
company is in advanced discussions with several other companies to
offer the same service and the sectors that could most benefit from
switching to gas generators include food processing companies,
steel, quarrying, shipping and healthcare.
Another benefit of the Aggreko power solution is the facility
that allows the customer to use heat generated by Aggreko’s natural
gas powered units, to produce hot water for the customers’ own CHP
units. This can be vital in many processing environments in
creating added saving for the customer. This facility supports
combined heat and power (CHP) strategies, without the need for long
term capital investment in new plant.
Jeff Short, Central area sales manager at Aggreko, said: “A
number of high volume energy users were caught out in September
2008, by signing up for fixed rate electricity contracts, some of
which are as high as 12p/kWhr. These users urgently need to explore
alternative power sources, as the savings could amount to many
hundreds of thousands of pounds per year.”
Aggreko’s gas generators can operate in most industrial
environments. Although each set produces 1.1 MW, they can be
operated in parallel to produce up to 100 MW if required, thus
making them ideal for a wide range of operations.
“Traditionally, plant engineers were wary of using gas
generators due to their servicing and maintenance needs,” said
Short. “As our solution is based on rental agreements for a minimum
of three months, there is no major capital investment required. All
of the servicing and maintenance is managed by Aggreko as part of
the rental package. This makes our gas generators an attractive and
flexible alternative to high-fixed-cost energy sources. There is no
investment needed in buildings as the generators are housed in
freestanding, waterproof ISO containers.”