Turbine or genset
A gas or diesel genset costs less per installed kW. The question that matters is what each one costs, and what each one delivers, over the years it runs 24 hours a day. The answer changes with the size of the load and with the gas on site. That is why this page covers the microturbines and the 2 MW module separately.
It is true, and it is the first number in any quote. But the price per kW measures a single day in the equipment's life: the day it is bought. In the years that follow, the bill includes fuel, maintenance stops, parts, and everything the site keeps buying from outside, such as boiler steam and electricity for the chillers.
Running 24/7, a gas genset changes oil and filters 4 to 17 times a year (every 500–2,000 h). An industrial turbine stops for inspection every 4,000 h, about twice a year. The V70 and V200 microturbines have no lubricating oil and are inspected every 8,000 h.
Design target
In the US Department of Energy fact sheets, maintenance of 65 to 200 kW microturbines costs 1.7–1.9 US cents per kWh generated. For 35 to 250 kW gas engines it costs 2.2–3.0.
The turbine's exhaust heat drives an absorption chiller, which makes chilled water without an electric compressor, and still produces steam or hot water. Every kW of cooling made this way is one kW less of electric chiller on the bill.
The price per kW tells you what it costs to buy. The cost per kWh delivered, plus the heat and cooling the site no longer buys, tells you what it costs to run.
| Criterion | V70 and V200 microturbines | 2 MW CCHP module |
|---|---|---|
| Output | 70 kW and 200 kW per unit; several in parallel | 1.4–1.6 MWe net per module; several side by side |
| Gas on site | Biogas, biomethane, natural gas and LPG | Natural gas from a pipeline or the distribution network; biomethane within the network specification |
| Where it pays off most | Biogas from farms, agro-industry and sewage; hotels, hospitals and retail; telecom | Industry with steam demand; shopping centres, hospitals and campuses; data centers; microgrids; distribution utilities |
| Heat and cooling | Clean exhaust at ~190 °C: hot water, digester heating, absorption cooling | ~1.7–1.9 MWt above 100 °C and 137–333 kW of absorption cooling |
| Status | V70 in assembly and testing; V200 in development, expected ~2027 | From stock in Brazil: ~60 days on a ready site; 3–9 months for new orders |
Design targets. Lead times indicative · stock confirmed at order.
V70 and V200 microturbines
The V70 (70 kW) and V200 (200 kW) are BluenPower microturbines, integrated in Brazil by Rengia. The compressor, turbine and generator spin on a single shaft on air bearings: no lubricating oil, no coolant and no radiator.
Biogas from the digester becomes electricity, and the exhaust heat warms the digester or the barns. Farming accounts for 78% of the biogas plants operating in Brazil.
Digester gas powers the plant itself, and the heat keeps the digesters warm. Digester gas is the renewable fuel most used by microturbines in this sector.
Several units in parallel follow the gas flow, and one can stop without shutting down the others.
Electricity, hot water and absorption cooling from a single source, quiet and oil-free.
They run on LPG or natural gas, with remote monitoring over 4G and an inspection every 8,000 h.
Design target
Microturbine blocks with a battery and absorption cooling, in a container, for one or two AI racks.
Natural gas, biogas, biomethane and LPG are standard. Syngas and ethanol, on request. Biogas treatment (moisture, sulfur, siloxanes) is defined for each site.
No oil to change, no coolant and no radiator. Inspection every 8,000 h and overhaul every 5 years.
Design target
The shaft turns continuously, with no pistons. Microturbines have less noise and vibration than reciprocating engines.
The exhaust leaves clean, at ~190 °C. It gives ≈ 67 kWth (V70) or ≈ 190 kWth (V200) of recoverable heat, at ≈ 68% total cogeneration efficiency.
Design target
Several units in parallel, with N+1 redundancy.
Target below 9 ppm NOx (at 15% O₂).
Design target
2 MW CCHP module
A 2 MW-class industrial turbine with an ACTE recuperator, a battery and an absorption chiller, in containers. The module delivers 1.4–1.6 MWe net and, from the same exhaust, cooling and heat.
Design target
The heat that would leave through the stack goes into the process. After the recuperator, ~1.7–1.9 MWt is still left above 100 °C for steam or hot water.
Design target
Absorption cooling (137–333 kW) and heat from the same gas, cutting the grid demand peaks. In a hospital, the module's battery starts it without the grid and carries the load for ~7 min if the turbine stops.
Design target
Each module powers 1.12–1.26 MW of IT, and ~1.0 MW of rack heat is rejected without a compressor.
Design target
The module runs islanded, with no grid connection. A grid-forming converter and the battery start the turbine and absorb load steps.
Firm capacity and backup at the point of the network that needs reinforcement, with containerised modules installed side by side. Utilities already use gas turbines at substations to add capacity and support the grid.
With the biogas upgraded to biomethane within the network specification. Raw biogas stays with the microturbines, because an industrial turbine is specified for pipeline-quality gas, and the sulfur in biogas forms deposits in the hot parts. To run all year, the module needs the biogas of a large plant, the size class of 8% of Brazil's plants.
estimate
1.4–1.6 MWe per module. From stock in Brazil to switch-on: ~60 days on a ready site; 3–9 months for new orders.
indicative · stock confirmed at order
31–33% electrical efficiency, 36–42% counting the cooling, and up to ~80% when all the heat is used.
Design target
More than 40,000 h between major overhauls. Industrial turbines are inspected every 4,000 h and run at 95% availability or higher.
~1.36 MWe up to 45 °C, because the exhaust heat cools the intake air on hot days.
Design target
The turbine turns continuously, with no pistons, and uses dry low-emission combustion.
Natural gas from a pipeline or the distribution network, and biomethane within the network specification. Ethanol, on request. Hydrogen: in development, up to 30% hydrogen blend with natural gas.
| Item | Genset (gas/diesel) | Rengia turbine |
|---|---|---|
| Where the usable heat leaves | About half in the exhaust; the rest in the cooling water and the oil, below ~150 °C | Concentrated in a single hot exhaust stream |
| What the heat produces | Hot water; steam only at low pressure, below ~8.6 bar | Steam, hot water, and chilled water by absorption, without a compressor |
| Oil and filter changes | Every 250–2,000 h, depending on fuel and engine | Industrial turbine: inspection every 4,000 h · V70/V200: no lubricating oil, inspection every 8,000 h* |
| Overhauls | Top-end overhaul every 8,000–30,000 h, before the major overhaul | 2 MW module: more than 40,000 h between major overhauls · microturbines: 40,000–80,000 h |
| NOx | Catalyst in the exhaust; SCR where the limit is stricter | Below 15 ppm without treatment (industrial turbine with low-NOx burner) · V70/V200: target below 9 ppm* |
| Engine cooling | Radiator or tower for the jacket water and the oil | V70/V200: no coolant, no radiator* |
| Noise and vibration | Pistons in reciprocating motion | Continuous rotation, no pistons; V70/V200 with less noise and vibration |
| Maintenance per kWh (up to ~250 kW) | 2.2–3.0 US cents | Microturbines: 1.7–1.9 US cents |
Category values: US DOE (fact sheets on gas turbines, reciprocating engines and microturbines, 2023–2024) and US EPA (Catalog of CHP Technologies, 2017). *V70/V200 design targets.
Send the electrical load, the heat and cooling demand, the gas available (natural gas, biogas, LPG) and the address. We point you to the right equipment and run the first analysis with your site's numbers.