San Ramon, Cal. – February 15th, 2019 – MBS Engineering, a natural gas services company, and Flex Energy, a gas turbine manufacturer, have partnered to offer an electrical power solution to hemp and cannabis industries. Substantial power demands for these industries, along with San Francisco Bay Area power company, Pacific Gas & Electric’s, bankruptcy declaration and a taxed electrical utility grid, threaten to hamper industry growth in the coming years. Analysts predict rising electrical costs for larger grow operations who are fortunate enough to have their power demand met.
A microturbine is truck-sized power station that sits on-site and which runs on natural gas. Inside, the combustion of gas spins a turbine that powers an electric generator, creating electricity. Through a process called ‘cogeneration’, the particulate-free ‘waste’ heat can be gathered with a recuperator, and used directly to warm a space, or – incredibly – turned into refrigeration; the net result is a power delivery solution that is 90% efficient, compared to 30% efficient for grid electric. Since about half of California’s grid electric power is generated from coal, which produces more CO2 than natural gas, a gas turbine is more environmentally friendly than grid electric.
Energy commissions in many states, including Massachusetts, Tennessee, Colorado, and Oregon, have proposed or issued advisories or restrictions to manage the energy demands cannabis and hemp growers. The problem of electrical power scarcity has only been compounded by the recent nation-wide legalization of hemp, which has a variety of uses, fibers that can be used in paper or clothing, construction to CBD pain-killers.
“Cannabis growers are paying $150,000 a month for 1.3 megawatts of power. We can deliver power at about half that – turbine financing and gas combined. All of it. It sells itself,” says MBS Engineering President, Brian James.
The strain on the electric infrastructure posed by the cannabis and hemp industries extends beyond the San Francisco Bay Area and PG&E – which received unwanted attention for the Paradise, California, fires last year – or even counties typically linked to marijuana growth, like Humboldt and Mendocino. The California Department of Food & Agriculture reports that, last year, Santa Barbara County led the state for marijuana cultivation license applications and approvals. California has close to twenty types of cultivation licenses, for everything from small-time growers, to large greenhouse and even larger, outdoor, grow operations. It is for these larger, hugely profitable, operations that hemp and cannabis crops draw the most power. Growers need incandescent lights for visibility and UV lights to grow indoors; humidifiers, HVAC, dryers, curing, and in some cases automation and processing machines. The aging electric utility infrastructure isn’t typically up to the task for this growing industry. A gas turbine the size of an Airstream can produce between 250 kilowatts and 1.3 megawatt; for context. this is enough electricity to power between 250 and 1,300 homes.
In 2018, The Motley Fool reported that PG&E’s power woes would ‘decimate’ California’s cannabis and hemp growing industry. Similar problems have surfaced in New Jersey, as PowerMag reported last year. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporationrecently reported that many growers are forced to get creative to meet power needs, including experimentation with LED-based lightings systems. In California, many larger growers expect to simply be turned down by the electric utility, especially for legally and financially embattled companies like PG&E.
“Natural gas is more disaster-resistant than electricbecause power lines are exposed and there are bypass lines in buried gas systems, to prevent outages in a disaster,” James continues. “Natural gas is like the hybrid car of the fossil fuel world, which is why they use it for buses in polluted cities: it burns much cleaner than the coal that powers much of the utility electric,” says MBS Engineering Sr. Engineer, Dan Whaley.
MBS and Flex expect up to asix-month wait for turbine orders before installation begins, and they require only a few weeks for the installation itself.
Media Contact
Company Name: MBS Engineering
Contact Person: Kristen Shelbourne
Email: Send Email
Phone: (925) 334-7200
Address:12893 Alcosta Blvd., Suite K
City: San Ramon
State: CA 94583
Country: United States
Website: mbs.engineering