Microturbine

FPL Group Inc (FPL) announced that it is working in cooperation with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the state's Tomoka Correctional Institution to study microturbine energy technology. The project places a microturbine at the Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach. Microturbines are small combustion generators that efficiently create heat and electricity on-site, conserving grid power. About the size of a refrigerator, the natural gas fueled microturbine at Tomoka has extremely low emissions of smog-forming NOx and other pollutants compared to other energy sources. The Tomoka project is grid-connected to FPL's electric system. It will heat water...

Capstone Turbine Corp (CPST) announced today that it has received an order for a nationally recognized health care facility totaling approximately $1.2 million of Capstone C65 Micro Turbine® energy systems. The multi-pac cogeneration energy system will be installed in one of their facilities in Southern California. The 65-kilowatt systems are the latest generation of MicroTurbine energy systems developed by Capstone. In addition to a net power output of 65 kilowatts, the Integrated Combined Heat and Power (ICHP) systems have 80% electrical efficiency, and NOx emissions of less than 5 parts per million.

Keeping an eye on next generation energy technologies a pair of Aussies are now producing micro turbines that can be used to generate power for many MEMS systems. You can learn more about micromachines and microturbines at the following Economist.com link.

by Debra Fiakas CFA Capstone Turbine Corporation (CPST:  Nasdaq) made it to the Efficiency Group of our Mothers of Invention Index because of its line of low-emissions micro-turbines.  The company has sold 6,500 of them around the world.  The fruits of this building installed base are evident in Capstone’s top-line, which has increased in each of the last three years and reached $109.7 million in the fiscal year ending March 2012.  The bottom-line has followed in the same direction, but is still in the red.  In the last fiscal year, Capstone recorded...

by Debra Fiakas CFA Last week microturbine manufacturer Capstone Turbine (CPST:  Nasdaq) reported financial results for the final quarter of its fiscal year ending March 2016.  Sales were $18.9 million in the quarter, bringing total sales for the year to $85.2 million.  FY2016 sales shrank 26.2% from the prior fiscal year for the second year in a row.  Some shareholders may be taking solace in the FY2016 net loss of $25.2 million or $1.39 per share in that it is an improvement over the even deeper loss in the year before.  That does not necessarily mean that operating...