Read the full episode transcript
00:00:00 Ivan Buckner
Hello and welcome to Power Bytes. I am your host, Ivan Buckner. Today, we have a special treat. We'll be delving into the concept of bridging power, but with a twist! We have not one, but two special guests with us. We have Michael Clarke and Nestor Sanchez. I'm going to let them introduce themselves, and then we're going to dig into this intriguing topic. Mike, let's start with you.
00:00:20 Michael Clarke
Yes! I'm Michael Clarke. I’m the sales director for our GPP business, which is our Global Power Provider. We perform temporary power projects around the world, anywhere from 20 megawatts on up to hundreds of megawatts.
00:00:33 Nestor Sanchez
Hi, my name is Nestor Sanchez. I work in the Panama office for Caterpillar. I'm part of rental power on Michael's Global Power Provider team. In my role as a project developer for the GPPs in Latin America, I prospect, qualify, and develop project opportunities for GPPs.
00:00:50 Ivan Buckner
Thanks for the introductions, gentlemen. Today we're talking about bridging power, and I wanted to give what my definition is: “I think bridging power is…” and then you guys can add on to it and let me know if I'm missing anything.
00:01:03 Ivan Buckner
Bridging power, to me, is a short-term solution that's essential for businesses [in order] to keep their operations going.
00:01:11 Michael Clarke
That's correct, Ivan. It's really the gap between when a utility power is available to a customer and when they actually need to have power on site. “Bridge power” is when we come in with a temporary solution to “bridge that gap” from the time a customer needs power until the actual utility power is in place.
00:01:31 Nestor Sanchez
And it's not only a short term; the duration of a bridge power solution will depend on the needs of the user. So, it could last weeks, or it could be months or even years!
00:01:41 Ivan Buckner
Okay. And when we're talking weeks and years, how long have you seen these projects take?
00:01:48 Michael Clarke
These projects typically range anywhere from six months to 5-7 years, and it’s dependent upon the situation [and] where in the world they are.
00:01:58 Nestor Sanchez
Yeah, the flexibility of the design and the Caterpillar equipment used in these types of solutions allows the company to achieve their desired outcome. Once those goals are met, the solution can be moved elsewhere.
00:02:10 Ivan Buckner
So why would someone need power for five to seven years?
00:02:15 Michael Clarke
Well, if you look at what's happening within the world and specifically within North America, utilities have seen an unprecedented demand for power coming towards them. And they have to go through their process and understand where power is coming from.
00:02:32 Ivan Buckner
When I read about bridging power, I hear a lot about data centers and utilities. How do data centers play into this?
00:02:39 Michael Clarke
Data centers have really grown in size – not only the number of data centers, but the actual megawatts that are required to run a data center has grown exponentially. When you add the fact of more data centers at higher power demand and utilities are trying to keep up with this unprecedented demand, it has definitely created a situation where bridge power is needed to fill that gap between when a customer needs power and is ready to go online and when the utility can actually get them that power.
00:03:15 Nestor Sanchez
One special characteristic that data centers have is that they have a very large demand requirement in a single spot.
00:03:23 Ivan Buckner
You mentioned planning. How important is planning to the success of bridging power?
00:03:30 Michael Clarke
I think it's key and critical! One of the important things… Remember, the sooner that you can bring this up to somebody, they can start looking at it [and it] allows them the time to take a look at the need to go through the engineering, to secure the gear, and to be able to work through all the necessary things to make a power project work.
00:03:50 Ivan Buckner
It sounds like these companies should have started planning “yesterday.” If they haven't started now, what should be the first thing that they should do?
00:03:59 Nestor Sanchez
Well, I would say that they should have started planning “the day before yesterday,” but definitely, they need to provide a lot of information, especially site related information. How many megawatts do you need? How much site do you have available (what we call the “footprint” of the site)? What would be the operation of the site? Is it going to run 24/7? Is it going to run just for the peak hours? The duration as well. Duration is flexible like many of the different aspects of bridge power: duration, fuel source, the special scope related to this type of application. So, there's a lot of technical information that needs to be in place for the solution itself to be designed and implemented. Their sense of urgency is very important here.
00:04:51 Ivan Buckner
Okay. We've talked high level; let's get a little [more] specific. I have a challenging question for you guys! Who's up for a challenge?
00:05:00 Nestor Sanchez
I am!
00:05:01 Ivan Buckner
Alright, Nestor! Can you talk about your most complex bridge power project that you've worked on?
00:05:09 Nestor Sanchez
Yes, definitely. I'll take that one. One of the most complex bridging power [projects] we worked with in my time at Caterpillar has been a large grid connected application where the GPP had to provide a solution for the additional requirements of the national grid. The turnkey technical solution was quite complex, utilizing both power modules and turbines. It also required a 69 KV connection to the grid. It also required transformers, substation equipment metering – all the controls required. So it was layer, upon layer, upon layer of complexities.
00:05:50 Ivan Buckner
When we were talking about putting these bridging power programs together, who were some of the key players that you were working with and putting these solutions together?
00:05:59 Michael Clarke
We typically work with our GPP dealers, obviously. We work with the end customer to understand exactly what their needs are. Then there's a myriad of other folks: gas supply companies or fuel supply companies, site infrastructure, regulatory, emissions, permitting, inspectors. It is a power plant – even though it's temporary, it is still a power plant! We have to work across many different disciplines in coordination with our GPP dealers to ensure successful execution of the project.
00:06:35 Ivan Buckner
You guys have done a really good job of painting a good picture of what bridging power is. And regardless of who the provider is for these solutions, I think some of our listeners out there that are more technical want to know specifically about the products that are involved, like generators or batteries. Can you give us a little more specifics on the products that are involved in these solutions?
00:07:00 Michael Clarke
Well, it can be a combination of many things. At minimal, it is gensets – whether it be reciprocating engines, whether it be turbines. There could be some energy storage that's in there. Potential renewable, solar – that could be put in play. And then what we call “balance of plant” (BOP) – all the switch gear, the electrical infrastructure, the means and the mechanism to take the power that's being generated by the power source generator, renewable, etc. and convert that into the substations and the distribution at the data centers or the end customers require. So, it is a total power plant.
00:07:42 Ivan Buckner
It seems like there are a lot of components and people involved in putting together these bridge power solutions. I think this is just the beginning of this type of solution, and I don't think it's going away. If you guys had to leave our listeners with some key takeaways, if they were about to put together a bridge power solution for themselves, what would you leave them with?
00:08:07 Nestor Sanchez
From my side, I think the end users, or the utilities, should think about bridge power as a solution, as an enabler. For me, that's one of the biggest takeaways of the conversation about bridge power. It's a way to deal with the present needs that you have today and, at the same time, match value for your operations, allowing you to remain focused on your core business. Whatever problem or need you have today, you still have your core business to take care of, and bridge power allows you to manage both things at the same time.
00:08:38 Michael Clarke
Yeah. For me, I think one of the keys is the sooner you can start engaging with somebody, even if it's a contingency … If you're not sure if utility or other power source is going to be there, the sooner you're able to do that, the more planning that can go into it. It could be a walkthrough and see what the feasibility of the project is. I do think timing is a key and obviously engaging folks that have the experience and can actually put a total plan together. Not only the generation, the balance of plant, the switch gear, the electrical infrastructure, the permitting, the gas supply (or fuel supply depending upon what fuel source that you have). Those are those are key and critical for me.
00:09:23 Ivan Buckner
Mike and Nestor, thank you guys for joining us today.
00:09:26 Michael Clarke
Thank you! It's been a pleasure.
00:09:27 Nestor Sanchez
Thank you very much!
00:09:28 Ivan Buckner
Thank you for joining us on Power Bytes and helping our listeners and myself learn more about bridging power and how important timing is. Please continue to send us emails on topics that you want to hear about. You can contact us at powerbytes@cat.com.
