June 13, 2006

SUBJECT:  Award of Contract to Conduct an Engineering Assessment of the Performance of the Two Engines in the City’s Power Generation Facility at the Water Pollution Control Plant (F0505-90)

REPORT IN BRIEF

Approval is requested for the award of a contract to Advanced Engine Technologies Corporation of San Leandro to assess the performance of the two Caterpillar engines in the Power Generation Facility (PGF) at the Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) for the Department of Public Works.

BACKGROUND

The PGF facility houses two Caterpillar 3516 engines, each operating as a 800 kilowatt (kW) electrical generator.  The engines are fueled by a blend of methane collected from the Sunnyvale Landfill and WPCP operations combined with natural gas and generate electricity that is used to run the WPCP.  Any extra energy is exported to the California electrical grid.  The system, which was commissioned in 1997, was designed and tuned so that in full 800kW operation, both engines would meet all Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAMQD) emission regulations.

Rising natural gas costs have made it economically unfeasible to continue to run the engines at full 800kW output, using the blended fuel source.  Landfill and WPCP digester gases are not plentiful enough to operate the PGF as designed. Reducing the output of the Caterpillar engines from full 800kW to a range of 400kW-800kW will allow the engines to run entirely on Landfill/digester gas, but testing at this operating range indicates that engine emissions will no longer meet BAAMQD regulations.

DISCUSSION

WPCP staff requested proposals from local power generation consultants to conduct an evaluation and engineering assessment of engine performance under varying loads and conditions.  The only proposal received was from Advanced Engine Technologies Corporation (AETC) who proposed to conduct a review of the current BAAMQD operating permit (through its sub-consultant Justice & Associates), sample and monitor current exhaust gases, and map engine performance under a wide range of operating and fuel loads. The resultant data will be used to optimize the operation of the engines.

Staff has determined the proposed process and pricing to be reasonable and recommends award of contract to AETC.

FISCAL IMPACT

Project costs include:

Funds are available in the Public Works Environmental Services Program.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that Council award a contract, in substantially the same form as the attached draft and in an amount not to exceed $95,899, to Advanced Engine Technologies Corporation (AETC) for engine mapping and assessment of engine performance under varying loads and conditions for the two engines in the Power Generation Facility at the Water Pollution Control Plant.

Prepared by:

Elaine Wesely

Purchasing Officer

Reviewed by:

Mary J. Bradley

Director, Finance

Reviewed by:

Marvin Rose

Director, Public Works

Approved by:

Amy Chan

City Manager

Attachment

A.  Draft Consultant Services Agreement (.pdf)