Customized Rental Solution!

One of our customers in Beverly Hills was doing a major office renovation and they required temporary electric power for the duration of the work. This seemed like a simple enough request for our rental group to handle but there were some challenges that had to be addressed!

The Challenge

The challenges were generally centered around the constraints of the job site and included:

  1. The temporary generator could not be parked on the street due to city bylaws
  2. The only other available locations for a temporary generator came with their own challenges:
    • A very small underground parking stall with extremely tight access and inadequate ventilation to allow an engine to run for an extended period of time
    • The top of a parking structure which would require a crane to lift it into place
  3. Noise restrictions were in place due to the proximity to other businesses
  4. California  has some of the strictest emissions requirements and building code requirements in North America. This means that power generation equipment must be able to meet the strictest emission standards and must be designed to handle earthquakes which are also common to California

 

The Solution

Our rental team worked with the customer to determine the potential power demand that they would experience during their office renovation. Once our team understood this requirement, we began to look at our rental fleet and selected a few potential options. From these options we narrowed down the selection to a rental unit that was the correct size, met the noise restrictions, and met the emissions requirements.

We then worked with our customer to provide a temporary venting solution for the generator exhaust. This had to meet the local building code requirements as well as the exhaust venting specifications for the generator. Once this was done, our rental team coordinated the generator drop off and set-up (props to our delivery team for backing this unit into place!) ensuring that our customer had the electric power they needed for the duration of their office building renovation project!

 

For more information on a rental solution or any other power generation solution, contact us via email or at the number below:

1-888-682-6888 or info@collicutt.com

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Data Center Expansion

One of our data center customers in southern California had recently been experiencing an increase in demand so they began expanding their center’s capacity. As the number of data servers increased, their requirement for emergency back up power was also increasing. Unreliable power is the biggest threat a data center can face! Power quality issues can cause equipment failure, downtime, data corruption or data loss, none of which are acceptable outcomes. So, this requirement to upgrade their emergency generators was critical!

Because Collicutt has been providing service work for them and their existing 2250kW generators for a number of years, we sat down with them to understand the challenge that they were facing.

The Design Challenge

Our customer had a few design constraints that needed to be solved. They obviously had a emergency power shortage but they also had the following issues that had to be addressed:

  • Size restrictions with their facility limited the footprint of the generators that they could use
  • California  has some of the strictest emissions requirements and building code requirements in North America. This means that power generation equipment must be able to meet the strictest emission standards and must be designed to handle earthquakes which are also common to California
  • Noise restrictions due to the proximity to other businesses
  • An existing generator that was no longer up to code and could not be made compliant
  • Switchgear upgrade project running concurrently with the generator upgrades
  • Programming to ensure paralleling of the units worked seamlessly with all the upgrades underway

The Solution

For the first unit they required, we designed and provided a custom 2250kw standby generator with a level 2 sound attenuated enclosure and a 3540 gallon subbase fuel tank. The fuel tank is UL142 double walled with secondary containment and rested just beneath the generator base. The enclosure had fixed intake louvers and a vertical discharge plenum to help hamper excessive noise to protect surrounding businesses. The enclosure was custom made with aluminum side and roof panels to ensure a non-corrosive housing designed for prolonged life. We also provided a critical grade silencer to quiet the large generators exhaust to meet city noise restrictions.

When the trucks showed up on site with the first generator and all its components, the customer’s crane company was a “no-show” due to equipment failure. As the old saying goes, “time is money” and a data center construction site is no exception. Collicutt was able to call on one of our crane contractors and get them out to site on short notice. They were able to successfully offload all of the equipment and maintain the schedule!

Our customer has now placed an order for a second 2250kW with the same basic specifications. Collicutt will be removing their non-compliant generator to make room for this second 2250kW. We will also assist them in selling the non-compliant unit using our  surplus equipment website and sales team.

In addition to this, we we able to provide paralleling programming and implementation so that when the new generators are installed and the switchgear upgrades are completed, they will be able to parallel these two new units with their existing generators.

This solution will provide them with high quality emergency power for years to come helping to guarantee their customers have secure data and data processing regardless of inevitable utility power outages.

 

 

 

For more information on this or any other power generation solution, contact us via email or at the number below:

1-888-682-6888 or info@collicutt.com

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Emergency Power for a High Rise

A few years ago a customer approached us with a project that they were about to take on in Southern California. They were looking at building a 600 unit, residential high rise apartment complex complete with some major retail stores in the ground floor. They were required to provide an emergency power generation system for this building and this is where Collicutt got involved.

The Design Challenge

There are always challenges to sort through with any project and this one was no exception. Besides the usual design constraints associated with projects in California like strict emissions compliance and seismic ratings, this project had some unique aspects that had to be addressed.

  • First, the generator would have to be installed in the parking garage of the building prior to the construction of the upper floors of the building. This put us on the critical path for project construction. We had to deliver on time!
  • Second, because the overall building design was still in process, we needed to allow for late changes prior to placing the generator into production in the event that we would need to upsize or downsize the generator and its components
  • Third, because of the seismic requirements and the fact that the generator was to be installed inside the building, the fuel tank had to be equipped with ballistic rated retainer walls. Basically, this is a double walled fuel tank that is filled with cement between the inner and outer wall to provide a puncture proof solution for fire rated indoor applications
  • Fourth, because the unit was located indoors, it needed to be equipped with a special exhaust silencer to meet the city sound requirements for indoor applications.
  • Finally, the installation of the generator would need detailed planning, coordination, and safety oversight. Due to the construction site location, offloading and placing the generator would require local road closures with the added challenge of dealing with overhead power lines. This meant that we would have to coordinate a crane and the trucking company within a very tight timeline while ensuring we had the time for a safe lift!

The Solution

Our Collicutt team worked closely with our customer throughout the design phase of this project. As the design progressed the customer realized that their electrical load had increased. Because of this, we upsized the original 1000kW generator to a 1250kW unit designed to provide enough critical power to meet full load requirements with a reserve factor of 10%. The model we selected was a 16V2000 DS1250 with IBC rating, complete with a roof mounted DPF and a UL2085 rated fuel tank.

In addition to this, there were various automatic transfer switch changes and breaker adjustments that the customer requested and we were able to accommodate within the time constraints. We were also able to coordinate the appropriate air quality permit for the customer so that their generator has all the permits required for operation.

The end result was that our customer received the generator at site on schedule. Our trucking and crane contractors were able to safely unload the generator, lower it two stories into the parking garage, and remove their equipment within the allotted road closure permit constraints.

It was a great team effort and now the building program can go on!

 

For more information on this or any other power generation solution, contact us via email or at the number below:

1-888-682-6888 or info@collicutt.com

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Emergency Power Solution for a Television Network Expansion!

A television network in Southern California was recently renovating and expanding their facility. As part of this expansion, they required an emergency power generation system.

As most people know, California has a very unstable power grid so most businesses need to have their own back up power system. This requirement is even more important for a television network as they simply cannot lose power during a power grid outage . . . this is when their viewers need them the most!

Complications

To complicate things, California has some of the strictest emissions and building code requirements in North America.

California emissions are controlled and regulated by 35 separate air quality management districts. Many of these districts have unique emission control requirements so it is critical to understand them and apply the correct solution. The wrong application can result in costly fines and mitigation requirements. In addition to this, the generator for this application needed to be IBC rated . . . basically constructed in a way to ensure that it can withstand and operate after a seismic event.

Design Process

Understanding these constraints, when the TV network started their design process, they reached out to Collicutt. Our professional sales and design teams worked with them and their engineering contractors to define the building electrical loads, design constraints, and their construction schedule.

The Solution

The outcome from this process was the generator shown in the photo above: a 1250kW, fully enclosed, IBC rated, MTU 16V2000 DS1250 solution complete with a Rypos filter to handle the strict emissions requirements. We were able to deliver this unit within the designated construction schedule.

When we heard that their construction schedule was delayed due to COVID, we were able to store the generator at our secured location for a number of months. During this time we provided them a temporary rental generator to make sure they had backup power until their facility was completed.

When we got the call that they were ready for their generator, we arranged for the crane and transport shown in the photo above. We delivered the unit and came back to site for commissioning and start up. Once the start up was complete, we provided training for the customer, removed the rental genset, and “gave them the keys” to their new power generation system!

For more information on this or any other power generation solution, contact us via email or at the number below:

1-888-682-6888 or info@collicutt.com

 

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How to Implement a Fuel Blending System

Air quality management districts, AQMDs, are continually updating their standards for reciprocating engines and the resulting emissions. Although the changes are made with the best intentions (e.g., reducing airborne pollutants), these changing standards often impose large technical challenges and require equipment upgrades or replacements which adds unexpected costs for business and industries.

Wastewater Dilemma

This is the situation one of our wastewater treatment customers found themselves in when a change in their local AQMD regulations instigated a large change in what was allowed for natural gas combustion.

This wastewater facility had three large CHP systems that used off-gas from the wastewater (produced through a digester process) as the main fuel source and natural gas as a backup fuel source. The CHP system provides electrical power for the plant, electrical power for the utility grid, and heat for the digester. The system had a combined electrical/mechanical efficiency of around 90% while removing GHG emissions from the environment so it was critical that it continue to run!

The challenge that the new AQMD ruling created was that the allowable natural gas consumption in their engines was changing from 100% to only 49%. However, the engines were originally designed with a dual fuel system that could run on either 100% natural gas or 100% digester gas but not a blend of the two fuels.

This change in allowable fuel ratios caused a big issue with the plant operations! (more…)

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