Capstone MicroTurbine Fleet Surpasses 15 Million Operating Hours
03 July 2007
Capstone Turbine Corporation® (NASDAQ:CPST) President and Chief Executive Officer Darren R. Jamison recently confirmed that the installed fleet of the company's Capstone microturbine™ energy systems has surpassed the 15 million-hour mark in documented runtime operation.
"In September 2005, we had reported that the installed base of our systems had accumulated an aggregate total of 10 million hours of documented operation," Jamison said. "I am pleased to report this significant new milestone in microturbine achievement. Accumulating an aggregate total of 5 million hours of documented operation in just 18 months is a testament to Capstone's commitment and leadership in this technology."
Fifteen million hours is equivalent to approximately 1,710 years worth of continuous operation. Each Capstone microturbine system has integrated power electronics that maintain a log of runtime hours and operational performance data. "The 15 million-hour figure represents the total documented operation of installed units with which we have contact or dial-in permission," said Shelby Ahmann, Capstone's senior vice president of customer service.
Jamison also announced that the company recently shipped its 4,000th unit and also has achieved significant Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) reliability criteria as follows:
- MTBF of greater than 8,000 hours for the C60 Series
- MTBF of greater than 15,000 hours for the C30
"John Fox, product manager for UTC Power, a United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) company, reports that UTC Power's fleet of combined cooling, heating and power systems utilizing Capstone microturbines is performing at an MTBF above 10,000 hours. We are pleased with the quality and reliability of our PureComfort® systems in the field," stated Fox. "We're gaining a lot of experience in diverse locations and this milestone demonstrates the soundness of the technology."
Ahmann added: "It's impressive when you think that our C60 Series will run on average one year between documented failures and our C30 almost twice that long. This is extremely impressive when compared to the failure rates of other incumbent technologies and really makes Capstone the right solution for unmanned sites below two megawatts."
Jamison concluded: "I am particularly proud that Capstone microturbines are green and clean energy solutions. They not only can help cut net energy costs at a wide variety of businesses and public facilities, but also do so with a positive impact on air quality by reducing pollutant emissions as well."
