County Postpones Purchase of Diesel Generators

Persuaded by a last-minute sales pitch from one businessman, Ventura County supervisors decided Tuesday to postpone spending $4 million on the purchase of diesel-powered emergency generators in order to study a less environmentally harmful alternative.

Mike Tingus, president of Chatsworth-based Capstone California, said his company produced special natural gas-powered microturbines that could probably be installed at the Government Center by summer for less than $4.8 million.

Also, Tingus said, the microturbines can run longer than diesel generators because they are cleaner-burning, with significantly less nitrogen oxide emissions.

“Diesel can only run 200 hours a year,” he said. “You can run these 365 days a year.”

Following the board’s meeting, county officials contacted Tingus to schedule a meeting for further discussion next Tuesday.

Supervisors want to purchase new emergency generators to avoid more blackouts at the Government Center, which has endured a series of outages in recent weeks tied to the state’s power crisis.

To save on energy bills, the county struck a deal with utility companies to participate in an interruptable power program. The county agreed to cut power at peak demand periods in exchange for discount rates.

Hampered by the state’s crisis, however, the Government Center last month alone had 14 days of partial outages. Fearing the problem could grow worse this summer, officials decided to purchase new generators.

The question is what kind.

General Services Director John Johnston had hoped to convince supervisors that buying super-sized diesel generators would be the fastest and cheapest way to solve the county’s emergency power problem.

In a report issued to the board Monday, Johnston rejected options such as solar power, fuel cells and microturbines, arguing they were too expensive--between $4.8 million and $55 million--and could not be installed before summer. Johnston endorsed use of diesel generators, which would cost about $4 million and could very likely be installed by early to midsummer.

But use of the generators has come under fire because the burning diesel emits cancer-causing toxins, according to Richard Baldwin, chief officer of the county Air Pollution Control District. For that reason, strict air pollution regulations limit their use to about 200 hours a year, unlike the natural gas turbines proposed by Tingus.

The county could also be eligible for more than $2 million in state rebates for using the cleaner power source, according to Johnston’s report. Soaring natural gas prices, however, could still pose a drawback.

Supervisors ordered Johnston’s office to proceed with design plans for diesel generators--and for the microturbines. The board will decide which option to pursue at its Feb. 27 meeting.