| Date: 28 April 2011, 03:53
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I WAS THERE at the birth of the microturbine. North American Co-generation was
owned by Herb Ratch who knew Robin MacKay and Jim Noe, two engineers that had left
Garrett Corporation after it had merged with Allied Signal. Robin and Jim decided to
form a company to develop a small gas turbine that might be useful in the automotive
market. This was in 1988 when NoMac Energy came into being.
Funding was important to NoMac and they decided to solicit a grant from the Gas
Research Institute for those funds. Robin asked Herb to help prepare the proposal to the
GRI and as I was then representing North American Cogeneration, they solicited my help
in doing some of the writing. A prototype machine had already been manufactured by
NoMac and I not only held many of the key component parts in my hands, I saw the first
microturbine in operation at NoMac’s facility. Little did I know that some 10 years later
the microturbine would be such an instrumental part of my future.
It’s believed the word “microturbine” evolved from the fact that it is a true gas turbine
demonstrating all the characteristics of a gas turbine, but simply smaller in power output.
No formal boundary exists as to when a gas turbine becomes a microturbine or viceversa.
However, it is generally accepted that zero to 300 kilowatts is the “range” of the
microturbine. Pratt & Whitney gave this credence when they developed their 400
kilowatt unit and called it a “mini turbine!”
NoMac’s company evolved into what is today the Capstone Turbine Company
headquartered in Chatsworth, CA. While Capstone is rightly considered the originator of
today’s microturbine, it was not until December of 1998 when commercially available
and reliable units were finally marketed. An elaborate article in the April 1, 1996 issue of
Fortune Magazine prematurely touted the advent of this “pint-sized power house.” False
starts plagued Capstone, mostly in the power electronics area, before they finally solved
the problems. After all, getting 60 hertz, AC current from a generator spinning at 96,000
rpm was no mean trick.
So, the microturbine is a recent development. The vast majority of gas turbines today
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