Capstone Green Energy offers microturbine solution to electrify ports

Capstone Green Energy say its microturbines, encased in a thirty-foot container, can jump-start new electric power generation at ports and terminals, according to Vince Canino, the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

Founded in 1988, Capstone Green Energy develops, manufactures, sells, and services microturbine energy solutions ranging in size from 30 kilowatts (kW) to 10 megawatts (MW). The company has shipped nearly 10,000 Capstone turbines to 83 countries and claims to be the world's leading producer of highly efficient, low-emission, resilient microturbine energy solutions.

Port Electrification

In an interview with AJOT, Canino said that ports can be a market for the company’s microturbine technology that can generate 1 MW of electricity housed in 30-foot containers powered by hydrogen fuel: “Now, when we think about ports, that is where we get excited because we can do hydrogen blends, we can do renewable natural gas. We can bring that in temporarily or portably. And that is the other beauty of our technology, that we are a very portable technology. We are a plug-and-play, fast-deployment, pay-as-you-grow type of technology, and you can move it around. And we think that might be very helpful for the ports. Hopefully, we are going to learn more because I want to really know what the problem is that they are trying to solve, so that we can see if we have solutions for that. But from what we read, we think we have some very interesting approaches.”

Canino says the Capstone turbines can be tailored for various energy needs at a container terminal: “We can power at the source, and anytime you put a long distance between electrons, something can go wrong and usually does. … “

APMT Port of Los Angeles

During a recent visit to the APM Terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, Managing Director Jon Poelma told AJOT that the terminal’s ramp-up to full electrification is hampered by the limitations of electrons provided by Los Angeles Water and Power.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), a Los Angeles city agency, has had problems delivering power to container terminals at the Port of Los Angeles. It is in the process of upgrading its infrastructure.

Poelma explained: “We have brownouts … We have had quite a few brownouts this year, and we do meet periodically with LADWP all the way up to the CEO, and they have committed that by 2030, we will have the necessary electricity. So, we have done a number of studies to quantify how much electricity the terminal needs. So, I think we feel confident about how much is needed. We just got to continue to get confidence through seeing detailed project plans that they can produce a consistent, reliable supply of power to the terminal.”

Poelma said APMT is now consuming about 7 megawatts of electricity and plans to increase its consumption to about 18 megawatts of power generation for zero emissions.

Hydrogen Solutions

Canino believes that Capstone’s containerized microturbine could be a solution for port customers such as APMT, and the turbines could be fueled by hydrogen, reducing emissions and pollution.

“We're currently working on hydrogen solutions ... We've been doing this for several years. We've worked with UCI (University of California, Irvine) quite a bit. They have a number of our units down at their campus in Irvine, and … we can do 30% blended hydrogen with natural gas. We've demonstrated a hundred percent hydrogen with them. We also have a customer in Australia, a big mining company…. We've demonstrated a hundred percent hydrogen. And so, I think hydrogen, and that is the neat thing about Capstone and our technology, is we can deal with many different types of gaseous fuels...”

Data Centers Growth

The company has argued that as grid constraints, utility delays, and rising energy costs intensify, Capstone’s ESP (Energy Surplus Program) delivers Engineered Equipment Packages (“EEP’s”) that align with AI data centers’ specific topology – enabling growth or expansion without shifting infrastructure costs downstream.

The company says that “today’s challenge is not simply how fast data centers can grow but how they do so without overloading utilities, delaying deployment, or increasing costs for surrounding communities.”

By enabling on-site generation and integrated cooling, Capstone’s ESP reduces dependence on constrained grids and empowers operators to expand capacity on their own timelines, on their own terms.

Growing Data Center Opposition

Canino says the industry is beginning to recognize that public opposition is stopping data center approvals. This is because of concerns about noise, pollution, and the impact on raising consumers’ electricity bills:

“I guess if you go back years and you think about a data center taking power off the grid, typically those electrons were generated by either natural gas, mine cycle, power plants, coal-fired plants, some hydro, some nuclear... So, there's a dirtiness to some of those electrons for sure. “When we look at what happened in … Illinois, where the residents shot down that data center, I think there were a couple of key things that were significantly overlooked. And data centers are learning now.”

Canino says that the rethinking of data centers reflects this:” So I think data centers are rethinking and looking at those types of things. But I think in Illinois, there was, I think, two sentiments that were driving that negativity of the data center. The first was the noise ... and the emissions … I think that there was a concern around what happened in Virginia, where all these data centers came in …. consumed all the power and the utility had … and (the utility had) no other choice but to raise rates to make new investments.”

The result is a number of these “developers, data center operators, and owners are starting to rethink how this data center should look. How can we make it cleaner? … And fuel cells are very clean. Linear generators are very clean. We are very clean. We don't have as low of emissions as a fuel cell or a linear generator, but our footprint and our maintenance costs, our total cost of ownership is significantly better.”

High US Content Has Shielded Impact of Tariffs

Canino said, “Our content, US content, is about 78%. So, we do have some offshore components. And quite frankly, when the ... tariff started last April, I think ... it didn't hurt us as badly because of our high US content to begin with. But it also made us rethink some of our other strategies. And because of that, we have gotten stronger in terms of business continuity … we have expanded our supply chain. And so, I think in the end, we're going to increase our U.S. content even more, as a result of that.”

Capstone’s corporate and production headquarters are located in Van Nuys, California, where it employs 118 people.