critical power

UPS system manufacturer, Active Power, has appointed a temporary company president and CEO.

Dr Ake Almrgen, who has been chairman of the board since December 2012, will succeed Doug Milner as interim president and CEO. Milner has resigned to pursue a new career opportunity.

The UPS and modular infrastructure solutions supplier will seek a permanent replacement for the role. Almgren, former CEO and president of International Battery, Capstone Turbine and President of ABB Power, said: “We are disappointed with Doug’s decision, but are confident we will identify a strong leader to succeed him.”

A 360kW hydrogen power-to-gas energy storage plant sold by ITM Power to Thüga Group in Germany is under construction.

The pilot plant in Schielestrasse, Frankfurt is designed to test power-to-gas storage technology using the gas distribution network. Frankfurt was chosen for its readily available infrastructure to connect an electrolysis plant.

The plant should be operational by the end of 2013 to convert electricity into hydrogen and feed it into the local gas distribution network. The pilot will run for three years to get real-world experience of how the plant will operate,

The plant will produce around 60 cubic metres of hydrogen per hour and so feed 3000 cubic metres of natural gas enriched with hydrogen into the grid per hour. An expansion of the pilot plant is planned from 2016 and the hydrogen will then be converted to methane and fed into the gas distribution network.

At the core of the plant is a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser produced by ITM Power. This was chosen over an alkaline electrolyser because the use of water is more environmentally sound than a potassium hydroxide solution required by alkaline.

The PEM electrolyser allows the system to react quickly to changes in the electrical load on the grid.

Thirteen companies, including four from the Rhineland are involved in the testing of the technology, which Environment Minister for the area, Lucia Puttrich, called “an important contribution in the area of research and development of storage technologies.”

The Dubai-based rental power company Altaaqa Global has announced plans for the company to expand into Europe, in conjunction with Cat Rental Power.

The company intends to set up regional hubs around the continent to supply generators from its expanding fleet. Its partnership with Cat Rental Power means it can utilise Cat’s network of more than 1500 dealers and rental outlets around the globe for expansion.

Managing Director of Altaaqa, Steve Meyrick, said: “The future growth of the company lies in its expertise to organically grow its business model, rapidly set up regional offices in the emerging markets, and through sound business acquisitions. We are planning to invest a substantial amount of resources that include power equipment, local employment, and training and development in countries where we will operate.”

One such emerging market it plans to tap into is providing temporary power plants to countries without a permanent power infrastructure.

JCB is ready to expand its generator and lighting tower distribution network in the coming five years.

Currently there are 60 dealers for JCB Power Products but the company is intending for this to rise to 240. These additional dealers will come from existing JCB dealers that do not presently carry generators and lighting towers.

Jonathan Garnham, Director and General Manager of the division, believes the construction equipment dealers are the obvious target for extending the power generation division.

JCB is planning to extend its product range by launching new LED lighting towers and making improvements to its digitally controlled generators. The full generator line comprises 114 models from 8 to 2700 kVA.

The company also intends to launch its power products in North America in the next five years. 

Scottish hire firm Apex Generators is investing more than £1 million in expanding its equipment portfolio for its hire fleet this year.

The spending on generators and ancillaries includes 70 new gensets and 20 security generator enclosures to bring the fleet to 530 units of generators between 10kW to 1MW.

The company is further expanding via a partnership with HazHire, an oil and gas hire firm. The agreement will see Apex equipment directly deployed from HazHire’s Aberdeen premises to supply to north east Scotland and offshore operations.