Proceedings of IJPGC’03

2003 International Joint Power Generation Conference

Atlanta, Georgia, USA, June 16-19, 2003

IJPGC2003-40181

CASE STUDIES OF DISTRIBUTED GENERATION PROJECTS WITH

MICROTURBINES IN BRAZIL

Eli Eber Batista Gomes

Marco Antônio Rosa do Nascimento
Electo Eduardo Silva Lora

UNIFEI - Federal University of Itajubá

IEM – Mechanical Engineering Institute
NEST – Thermal Systems Study Group
Caixa Postal 236 CEP: 37500-970 ITAJUBÁ, MG – Brazil
Phone: +55 35 3629-1355 Fax: +55 35 3629-1355
E-mail: eligomes@iem.efei.br

ABSTRACT payback period. Besides, the return on the investment have

Microturbines have showed good perspectives for the shown improvements with the incentive of the natural gas
distributed generation of the electricity in low capacity range, distributing companies and with the rises in the electricity price
because they have high reliability and simple design (high of Brazilian utilities.
potential for a cheap manufacture and in large scale). Besides,
this technology must have a great application in systems of INTRODUCTION
cogeneration of the public service (malls, hotel, hospital, etc.)
Microturbines are energy generators wh ich capacity ranges
and in the distributed generation of the electricity in the
from 15 to 300 kW. Their basic principle comes from open cycle
developing countries in order to get a reliable operation system,
gas turbines, but they present several typical features, such as:
in a range of power compatible with the isolated communities.
variable speed, operating at high speed, compact size, simple
In Brazil, The Thermal Systems Study Group (NEST) of
operability, ease of installation, low maintenance, air bearings,
Federal University of Itajubá (UNIFEI) sponsored by The
low NO X emissions and usually they have a recuperator
Energy Company of Minas Gerais (CEMIG), are developing a
(Hamilton, 2001).
project of experimental valuation of the system with
Microturbines appeared in automo tive market between 1950
microturbines for electricity generation fueled with natural gas
and 1970. The first microturbines were based on gas turbine
and diesel.
designed to be used in generators of missile launching stations,
The objective of this paper is to show an economic
aircraft engines, bus engines and other commercial means of
evaluation which presents the generation costs and the
transport. The use of microturbines in the energy market
payback period with the Capstone 30 kW natural gas
increased between 1980 and 1990, when the demand for
microturbines business in three cases: microturbines operating
distributed generating technologies increased (Liss, 1999).
on base load in gas station, microturbines operating on peak
shave in the industry and a microturbine cogeneration system
CAPSTONE MICROTURBINES APPLICATIONS
operating in the residential segment. It was considered the cost
of microturbines at this moment and the projection for the The control and power electronics system of Capstone
future, as well as the cost of electricity and natural gas in Brazil. microturbines allow different operation mo des, such as: grid
An economical analysis was carried out for different connect, stand-alone, dual mode and multiple units for
variables involved and the results show the Capstone 30 kW potentially enhanced reliability, operating with gas, liquid fuels
natural gas microturbines business are feasible firstly in and biogas .
cogeneration cases which is possible to get until 3 years of

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 In grid connect, the system follows the voltage and
frequency from the grid. Grid connect applications include base
load, peak shaving and load following. One of the key aspects
of a grid connect system is that the synchronization and
protective relay functions required to reliably and safety
interconnect with the grid can be integrated directly into the
power electronics and control systems of microturbines. This
capability eliminates the need for very expensive and
cumbersome external equipment required in conventional
generation technologies (Rodgers et all, 2001).
In stand-alone, the system behaves as an independent
voltage source and supplies the current demanded by the load.
The Capstone microturbine when equipped with the stand-alone
option includes a large battery used for unassisted black start of
the turbine engine and for transient electrical load management.
In both a grid connect and stand-alone mode of operation
the microturbine can also be designed to automatically switch
between these two modes. This type of functionality is
extremely useful in a wide variety of applications, and is
commonly referred to as dual mode operation. Besides, the
microturbines can be configured to operate in parallel with other
distributed generation systems in order to get a larger power
generation system. This capability can be built directly into the
system and does not require the use of any external
synchronizing equipment.
Some microturbines can operate with different fuels. It is
the flexibility and adaptability enabled by digital control
software that allows this to be possible without make significant
changes t o the system hardware.
Power generation system create large amounts of heat in
the process of converting fuel into electricity. For the average
utility-size power plant, more than two-thirds of the energy
content of the input fuel is converted to heat. Conventional
power plants discard this waste heat, but distributed generation
technologies, due to its load-appropriate size and sitting, are
enables to recovery this heat. The cogeneration systems can
produce heat and electricity at or near the load side. The
cogeneration plants usually have up to 85% of efficiency and
operation cost lower than another applications. Usually small
cogeneration systems uses reciprocating engines but the
microturbines have showed to be a good option for this
application. The hot exhaust gas from the microturbines is
available for cogeneration applications. Recovered heat can be
used for hot water heating or low-pressure steam applications.
CASE STUDIES AT BRAZILIAN CONDITIONS
With the Brazilian governmental incentive to develop the
gas industry, the feasibility of many natural gas applications
has been doubted. Besides, the demand of efficiently and
environmental friendly power generation technologies have
been increased. Many electricity consumers are begging to
think to produce their own electricity.
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This study analyses the possibility of natural gas
application with Capstone microturbines in three cases of power
generation: peak shaving in a small industry, base load in a gas
station and a cogeneration system supplying buildings in a
residential segment (Gomes, 2002).
Actually the trend of microturbines market is to reduce the
investment cost. This paper analyses the influence of the
investment cost of microturbines on the feasibility and on the
cost of the electricity generated. Besides, the fuel cost can be a
significant part of the cost of the electricity generated. The
behavior of the feasibility and the cost of the electricity
generated with fuel costs were assessed too. This study used
electric energy and natural gas prices that were charged by
several electricity utilities and gas distributing companies in
Brazil at the time it was being carried out (November, 2002).
Table 1 shows the general conditions used in the cases studies .
Table 1 – General conditions of the analysis
Currency rate 2.6 R$/US$
Interest rate 10 % per year
CAPSTONE Microturbine Features
Model 330 (High Pressure)
Fuel Natural Gas
Proprieties of Natural Gas (20 ºC and 1 atm)
Specific Mass 0.602
High Heat Value 39,304 kJ/m3
Peak Shaving Case
Many electricity consumers try to reduce their electricity
peak consumption because of the price of peak electricity. If
they produce their peak electricity, they will reduce the amount
of electricity purchased from the utility at peak time, without
reducing their total electricity consumption. Besides, the power
generation system can improve the quality and reliability of the
energy supplying of the company.
The commercial microturbines available at the Brazilian
market are imported from United States and the feasibility of the
investment depends on the currency rate according to Table 1.
The study was carried out in four Brazilian regions, which
they was classified by natural gas price of gas distributing
companies of these states , as it is shown in Table 2. The Table
3 and the Figure 1 show the conditions studied and the
electric ity demand supplied by the utility with and without peak
shaving.
Table 4 displays the economical analysis of the peak
shaving case. The investment is not feasible yet, because the
payback period is very long. The state which this business is
most interesting is the Rio Grande do Norte, where the payback
is 8 years.
2 Copyright © 2003 by ASME
 The perspective of some microturbines manufactures is to
decrease the microturbine cost to about 400 US$/kW until 2005
Table 2 - Brazilian regions analyzed in peak shaving case
(Dunn & Flavin, 2000). If the microturbine cost is 400 US$/kW,
Brazilian States the payback period is between 2.5 and 5 years, as it is shown in
1st Region São Paulo (SP) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ) Figure 2.
2nd Region Ceará (CE), Pernambuco (PE) and Paraíba (PB)
SP e RJ CE, PE e PB RN Other States
3rd Region Rio Grande do Norte (RN)
20
4th Region Others
18

16
Table 3 - Conditions of the peak shaving case

Payback Period [years]

14
Model of microturbine Capstone 330
12
Number of microturbines 1
10
Life time of microturbines 20 years
Net power (peak load) 28 kW 8

Microturbine installed cost 1,538 US$/kW 6

Natural gas consumption (HHV) 650 m3/month 4

3
Average price of natural gas 0.33 - 1.32 R$/m 2
(taxes are included) 0
400 600 800 1.000 1.200 1.400
Microturbine Cost [US$/kW]
Without Peak Shaving With Peak Shaving
140 Figure 2 - The microturbine cost influence on the return on
the investment
120

100 Base Load Case

Load [kW]

80 In this case, a microturbine produces electricity to a gas

station according to base load demand, which shows Figure 3.
60
The conditions of this case are in the Table 5. The Table 6
40 shows t he states of Brazilian regions analyzed in base load case.
20

0 Table 5 - Conditions of the base load case

0:00 2:00 4:00 6:00 8:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Time Model of microturbine Capstone 330

Number of microturbines 1
Figure 1 – Electric demand supplied by the utility
Life time of microturbines 10 years
Net power 27,5 kW
Table 4 - Economical analysis of the peak shaving case Microturbine installed cost 1,538 US$/kW
SP - RJ CE-P E-PB RN Other States
Natural gas consumption (HHV) 6,918 m3/month
Investment total* US$ 46,827 46,827 46,827 46,827
Average price of natural gas 0.24 - 1.02 R$/m3
Annual cost** US$/year 53,827 44,906 55,718 51,102
(taxes are included)
Annual cost* US$/year 55,323 45,231 53,950 51,479
Annual savings US$/year -1,497 -325 1,769 -378
Electricity generated US$/MWh 435 321 301 366
Table 6 - Brazilian regions analyzed in base load case
Brazilian States
Payback Period years 32 15 8 15
1st Region São Paulo (SP) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
* With peak shavin g
** Without peak shaving 2nd Region Rio Grande do Sul (RS) and Paraná (PR)
3rd Region Rio Grande do Norte (RN)
Figure 2 shows the behavior of the payback period with the 4th Region Others
microturbine cost. There is a strong fall on the payback period
of the states of SP and RJ, as according to decrease the Table 7 displays the economical analysis of the base load
microturbine cost. case for gas stations. Actually this kind of business is not

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 feasible yet, but in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), it Microturbine Cost [US$/kW]

could get payback period of 3.1 years, because the gas 400 600 800 1.000 1.200 1.400

distributing company of this state has encouraged small thermal 190

power generation by natural gas price lower than others.

Cost of the Electricity Generated [US$/MWh]

170

150
Without Power Generation With Power Generation
130
40
35 110

30 90

25
Load [kW]

70
20
50
15
30
10
0,10 0,20 0,30 0,40 0,50 0,60 0,70 0,80 0,90 1,00
5 Natural Gas Average Price [R$/m3 ]

0
0:00 2:00 4:00 6:00 8:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00
Figure 4 - Cost of the electricity generated for different
Time
microturbine costs and natural gas average prices
Figure 3 - Electric demand supplied by the utility
SP e RJ RS e PR RN Other States

12
Table 7 - Economical analysis of the base load case
SP e RJ RS e PR RN Other States
10
Investment total* US$ 46827 46827 46827 46827
Annual cost** US$/year
Payback Period [years]

28748 28117 27956 24389

8
Annual cost* US$/year 45699 33898 20707 26002
Annual savings US$/year -16951 -5780 7249 -1614
6
Electricity generated US$/MWh 181 131 75 99
Payback Period years No Feasible No Feasible 3,1 8,2
4
* With power generation
** Without power generation
2

The Figure 4 shows the behavior of the cost of the

0
electricity generated for different microturbine costs and natural 0,10 0,15 0,20 0,25 0,30 0,35 0,40 0,45 0,50 0,55 0,60
gas average price. Some natural gas distributing companies in Natural Gas Average Price [R$/m ]
3

Brazil have encouraged small thermal power generation. For the

natural gas consumption range of this case, the natural gas Figure 5 - The natural gas average price influence on the
coming from these companies has cost about 0.24 R$/m3. Based payback period
on this fact and based on the perspective of microturbines
manufactures, the Figure 4 shows it can get cost of the Cogeneration Case
electricity generated of 58 US$/MWh. For each 1 US$/kW
decreased from the microturbine cost, the cost of the electricity In this case, two microturbines and a heat recovery system
generated decreases about 0,021 US$/MWh, for every natural produce electricity and hot water to buildings in a residential
gas average price range, and for each 1 R$/m3 decreased from segment, according to base load demand, which shows Figure
the natural gas average price, the cost of the electricity 6.
generated decre ases about 135 US$/MWh, for every A cogeneration plant can result in substantial savings in
microturbine cost range. energy. However, these systems usually result in grater capital
In the base load case, the natural gas average price is the expenditures than non-cogeneration plants. This incremental
most influential cost component in the return on the investment. capital investment for cogeneration must be justified by reduced
The Figure 5 shows this conclusion for the microturbine cost at annual energy costs and by reduced payback period.
this moment, since natural gas average price of 0.24 R$/m3 can
results in payback period between 3 and 4 years.

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 Conventional Case Cogeneration Table 9 - Brazilian regions analyzed in cogeneration case
120 Brazilian States
100 1st Region Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
2nd Region Paraná (PR)
80
3rd Region Rio Grande do Norte (RN)
Load [kW]

60 4th Region Others

40

20
Table 10 - Economical analysis of the cogeneration case
RJ PR RN Other States
0
0:00 2:00 4:00 6:00 8:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00 Investment total* US$ 23077 23077 23077 23077
Time Investment total** US$ 136797 136797 136797 136797
Annual cost* US$/year 128566 110022 90323 98328
Figure 6 - Electric demand supplied by the utility to consumers Annual cost** US$/year 110337 96655 65416 77534
with and without cogeneration Annual savings US$/year 18228 13367 24907 20795
Electricity generated US$/MWh 174 146 84 112
The course of action that involves the minimum capital Payback Period years 3,3 3,8 2,8 3,1
expenditures must be determined. It is the conventional case. In * Conventional
this study a low pressure boiler supplying process heat and the ** Cogeneration
purchase of all electric power from the utility system is the
conventional case. Although the conventional case has the In the cogeneration case, the fuel cost is the most
lowest investment cost, it usually has annual operating costs influential cost component on the return on the investment,
significantly higher than those available with cogeneration such as base load case. The Figure 7 shows the fuel cost can
alternatives. Table 8 is shows the conditions of this case. The get until 71% of the cost of the electricity generated.
Table 9 shows the states of Brazilian regions analyzed in base
Investment Fuel O&M
load case.
5,7% 6,9% 11,9% 9,0%
100%
Table 8 - Conditions of the cogeneration case
System cogeneration model MG2-C1 80%
Number of Capstone microturbines 2 40%
55%
Number of heat recovery system 1 60% 71% 65%

Life time of microturbines 10 years

40%
Power output 54 kW
48%
20%
Heat recovery system (hot water generation) 28%
36%
23%
Water pressure 10 bar
0%
Water flow 2.22 t/h RJ PR RN Other States

Inlet water temperature 25 ºC

Figure 7 - Components of the cost of the electricity generated
Outlet water temperature 67 ºC
Outlet exit gas temperature 93 ºC Figures 8, 9 e 10 show the combined influence of
microturbine cost and the average price of natural gas on the
Net power 53 kW
return on the investment in the states of Rio de Janeiro and
System cogeneration installed cost 1,872 US$/kW
Paraná (Figure 8), Rio Grande do Norte (Figure 9) and the others
Natural gas consumption (HHV) 13,653 m3/day states (Figure 10). Based on the perspective of the microturbine
Average price of natural gas 0.24 - 0.90 R$/m3 manufactures and with natural gas average price of 0.25 R$/m3, it
(taxes are included) can get payback period between 1.5 and 3 years.

Table 10 displays the economical analysis of the CONCLUSIONS

cogeneration case. The conventional case has investment cost
lower than the cogeneration system, but the annual cost is
higher and the savings can be until US$ 24,907 per year. The
payback period is between 2.8 and 3.8 years and the minimal
cost of the electricity generated is 84 US$/MWh.
Microturbine generators have shown good perspectives for
small scale electricity distributed generation, because they have
high reliability and simple design (high potential for la rge scale
cheap manufacturing).

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 Although the results show the microturbines are not Microturbine Cost [US$/kW]
feasible providing peak demand, in this case the microturbines
can supply peak demand and improve the level of reliability of 400 600 800 1.000 1.200 1.400
10
the electricity supplying, because they can provide stand-by
capabilities should the electric grid fail. 9
In the base load case this sort of business is feasible just in
states of Brazil where gas natural distributing companies have 8
encouraged small thermal power generation by natural gas price
7

Payback Period [years]

lower than others, since in this case the natural gas price is the
most influential cost component of the electricity generated. 6
The most feasible investment in microturbines is
5
cogeneration case. In this case, it is possible to get good
feasibility in all states of Brazil and the cogeneration systems 4
can provides an expressive annual savings. Besides with the
manufacturers’ perspective, with the incentive of natural gas 3
distributing companies and with the rises in the electricity price 2
of Brazilian utilities, the feasibility of the investment in
microturbines in the next years will be higher than actually. 1

0
Microturbine Cost [US$/kW] 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8
3
400 600 800 1.000 1.200 1.400 Natural Gas Average Price [R$/m ]
6
Figure 9 - Combined influence of microturbine cost and
average price of natural gas on the payback period in the state
5 of Rio Grande do Norte

Microturbine Cost [US$/kW]

Payback Period [years]

4
400 600 800 1.000 1.200 1.400
8
3

7
2
6
Payback Period [years]

1 5

4
0
0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,9 1,0
3
3
Natural Gas Average Price [R$/m ]

2
Figure 8 -Combined influence of microturbine cost and average
price of natural gas on the payback period in the states of Rio
1
de Janeiro and Paraná
0
0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8
3
Natural Gas Average Price [R$/m ]

Figure 10 - Combined influence of microturbine cost and

average price of natural gas on the payback period in the other
states

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the financial support of National Agency
of Petroleum (ANP), through the accord ANP/UNIFEI of Human
Resources Program PRH/ANP, as well as the support of CEMIG,
FINEP and the Technological Center of COPERSUCAR.

REFERENCES
Capstone Turbine Corp oration, Capstone Microturbine
Model 330 System Operation Manual, USA, 2001.
Dunn, S. & Flavin, C., Dimensionando a Microenergia. In:
Estado do Mundo 2000. Brazil, UMA Ed., 2000.
Gomes, E. E. B. Análise Técnico-econômica e Experimental
de Microturbinas a Gás Operando com Gás Natural e Óleo
Diesel, Master Degree Thesis, Supervised by Nascimento, M. A.
R. and Lora, E. E. S. Federal University of Itajubá, 2002.
Hamilton, S. L., Microturbines, Distributed Generation: a
nontechnical guide, edited by Ann Chambers, cap. 3, pp. 33 –
72, PennWell Corporation, USA, 2001
Liss, W.E., Natural Gas Power Systems for the Distributed
Generation Market. Power-Gen International ‘99 Conference.
CD-Rom. New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 1999.
Rodgers, C.; Watts, J.; Thoren, D.; Nichols, K. & Brent, R.
Microturbines, Distributed Generation – The Power Paradigm
for the New Millennium, edited by Anne-Marie Borbely & Jan F.
Kreider, cap. 5, pp. 120 – 148, CRC Press LLC. USA, 2001.

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