Neehah Micro Turbine
In May 2001, a Honeywell Parallon 75 micro turbine was installed for testing at an industrial facility in Neenah, Wis. The micro turbine produced 75 kW of electricity and operated on natural gas. It operated to reduce the peak electric demand at the facility, thereby significantly reducing the facilities monthly electric bill. This demonstration was scheduled to last up to two years but was interrupted by Honeywell’s exit from the power generation business. The Honeywell unit was removed in December 2001.

A new, 100 kW Elliot microturbine was installed in the fall of 2003. The unit’s power electronics unit was replaced in February and there have been issues related to cold weather operation. The manufacturer has made modifications at their cost to eliminate cold weather operating problems and improve reliability. Performance testing is in progress and emissions and power quality testing may be conducted in the future. The unit has experienced intermittent “failure to start” episodes.