Wind of change [gas turbine based CHP]

Innovations in gas turbine technology are promising to transform the business case for small CHP schemes. The author reports on one UK company's perspective of this new market. The company is Southampton-based Bowman Power Systems which has a number of pre-production machines in the 40 to 80 kWe range and is planning the commercial release of its 80 kWe system for the third quarter of 2000. Bowmen has concentrated its development efforts on the electrical components, i.e. the alternator and the power conditioner, relying on a bought in turbine supplied by US-based Elliott Energy Systems. Cogeneration is central to Bowman's marketing approach. The importance of cogeneration is reflected in a distinctive feature of the Bowman design, whereby the heat output can be varied by altering the degree of pre-heating of the delivery air.