Nobody in manufacturing likes higher
utility bills, but officials of Hess
Microgen LLC have some mixed
feelings.
Business is gangbusters at the
Mound House-based operation that
makes self-contained co-generation
units. The company says the strong
sales are partly the result of higher
electric prices and the uncertainties
surrounding deregulation in many parts
of the United States.
An initiative of the federal government
is giving the company an additional
boost.
Hess Microgen last week launched
operation of a 34,000-square-foot
expansion of its production facilities.
Its employment, meanwhile, has risen
to 65 from three just 30 months ago.
The company, a unit of Amerada
Hess Corp., makes pre-packaged cogeneration
plants that allow customers
to generate their own electricity.
One recent customer, for example, is
Pacific Clay Products of Lake Elsinore,
Calif. The five, 200-kilowatt units that
Pacific Clay bought will generate about
65 percent of the electricity used by the
brick and tile manufacturer. The heat
produced by the units, which are fired
by natural gas, will help offset existing
gas-driven dryers.
In all, Pacific Clay estimates the
system will reduce its energy costs by
$400,000 annually. That translates into
a payback of less than two years.
Pacific Clay isn't alone.
"We have experienced very strong
order growth over the past 12 months
and expect this trend to continue," said
Steve Brandon, vice president of operations
for Hess Microgen.
Part of that growth reflects a goal of
the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency to encourage distributed generation
of electricity to supplement traditional
big generators.
In 1998, the EPA said it wanted to
double the nation's capacity of co-generation
facilities producing electricity
and usable heat, and it's provided
incentives to participating companies.
Brandon said the new facility will
streamline production flow.
The new building will handle cabinet
assembly, plumbing, wiring, welding,
testing and detail work. Co-generation
systems mounted on skids will
move through the building in an
assembly-line type of system.
The company has more than 100
systems operating in the United States
and abroad.
Hess Microgen was incorporated in
January 2000. The next month, it
acquired the micro-generation business
of Strategic Resource Solutions
Corp., a subsidiary of Carolina Power
& Light Company. Bob Miller, senior
vice president of Hess Microgen,
founded SRS.
