Piller Power
Power users with requirements in the 10MW-100MW range (and beyond) are seeking grid independence options.
Across companies, communities, mining locations, military campuses and public bodies local power generation delivered via 100MW+ microgrid developments are being modelled, planned, and built.
Today, it is hard to avoid news about supply constraints on macro grids on which large, energy intensive industries rely.
In times of such concerns those who use the most energy also need the highest level of power security – even as they seek a path to net zero.
Any industry using a power system that relies primarily on 500MW – 5GW power stations, coupled to a legacy grid pushing electricity over long distances, with its related large losses, knows that it must seek alternatives. They require independence through locally deployed, modular, reliable power generation at scale.
This includes data centers, manufacturers, process, transport, and energy itself.
Constraints may not be new, but they are becoming more common. What is new is the availability of out of the box solutions in the form of sustainable power provision in 10MW modules that scale to 100MW+.
Power Solutions
Piller Power Systems, Bergen Engines and Marelli Motori are sister companies within the Langley Holdings’ Power Solutions Division who have combined to deliver the Power of 10.
The Power of 10 is a modular power building block solution for large power-hungry applications in manufacturing, process and mining and digital infrastructure (among others). It is delivered in 10MW units of scalable primary power generation with integrated 10MW alternators and conditioning technology.
Each 10MW system comprises a Bergen hydrogen-ready 10MW generating set (for 20 years until January 2022 Bergen Engines was part of Rolls Royce plc). The Bergen generator has been successfully paired with a Marelli Motori alternator and combined with the new [ET1] revolutionary Piller 10MW choke, with 4 2.5MW Piller power conditioning modules featuring Integrated Power Conditioning and Switching (IPCS) technology.
Invest and grow as needed
Such a system can be rolled out in 10MW modules on ‘grow as needed’ basis.
As modules are deployed, the second and subsequent modules can act as the N+1 redundancy layer – removing need for standby back up diesel generators and large battery farms.
For many applications this has the potential to be revolutionary.
The Power of 10 is a new ‘cookie cutter’ solution offering true primary baseload and backup power that is totally independent from the grid.
It is the ideal solution for large users seeking how to secure continuity of operations at a time when existing grids are becoming less reliable.
One sector very much aware of its need to change its grid relationships dependence is data centres. In 2012, Microsoft’s data center division, then known as Global Foundation Services, issued a blog titled “Thinking Off the Grid: Independence for Today’s Data Centers via Data Plants?”
It began with a question. “Why do data centers need to be connected to a dirty, expensive, unreliable electrical grid?” Answer. “They don’t and they don’t want to be either.”
That was over ten years ago.
And today the move to local microgrid power generation is on the policy agenda for every energy intensive industry as they seek long term secure, sustainable power.
A new approach – The Power of 10
The issue was that up until now the different elements – generators, alternators and power conditioning, stabilisation and switching – capable of running at the necessary scale, have not been brought together.
The Power of 10 changes this.
It addresses the technical challenges that include the need for power conditioning, voltage stabilization and frequency.
Mapping out the road to 2030 and beyond it is clear that volatility in utility power provision will become the new normal.
Power plants connected via islanded or integrated microgrids are the solution for industries and sectors in need of 10MW-100MW of power but who must face the prospect of more constraints from traditional macro grids.
About Power Solutions
Langley Holdings’ Power Solutions Division develops hybrid-renewable microgrids through a collaboration between Langley companies Bergen Engines, Marelli Motori and Piller Power Systems. The aim is to efficiently and cost-effectively meet immediate and future microgrid requirements while reducing emissions to a minimum.
