Peaker Plants for Renewable Energy Support

Despite the global focus on renewable energy, the gas turbine power generation market has seen considerable growth in the 2014 to 2019 period, and experts predict the same industry health in the 2019 to 2024 forecast period. This growth has been facilitated by technological advancements and innovation, raw material availability and an increased demand for electrical power that has allowed growth in the non-renewable as well as renewable sectors combined.
 
The KickStage team has been experiencing the unique dynamics of this industry with their latest major customer. They are transitioning from a broad gas turbine engine portfolio to a focused manufacturing line for ‘peaker’ engines. ‘Peaker’ engines are units that specialize in low-utilization, high-variability power generation. Such engines typically sit alongside renewable energy farms – such as wind and solar farms – and provide back up power when the renewable source is unavailable. So the growth for this category of power generation is, understandably, shooting up right alongside the popularity for renewables.
 
15 members of the KickStage team are enjoying getting their hands and minds busy in helping this client transition from high-variability, low-volume production to a Lean, focused production line. One interesting contrast from that of aerospace engines (and thus not having to create a flight-conformant product) is the increased flexibility in material choices, tolerances and performance vs. cost design decisions.
 
From factory design, manufacturing capability management and supply chain establishment, we are excited to see the growth of our client and privileged to be an integral part of their development process!