Cummins Finishes Long-Term Field Test

Cummins said it had ended the successful long-term field test of its latest natural gas-powered generator, the C25G, which has been operational at the Cummins Power Systems Manston site in Kent, England, since September 2019.

Launched at Middle East Energy in March 2020, the C25G gas generator series is the latest addition to the Cummins natural gas generator portfolio. To test the generator in a real-world setting, Cummins installed a C25G inside a test cell at its Power Systems Manston engineering and logistics facility and took the 10 000 sq. mt. site off-grid. The generator ran for 60 days—24 hours a day from Monday to Friday and for 12 hours a day Saturday to Sunday—fueled by pipeline natural gas meeting Cummins Power Systems Manston facility’s electricity requirements.

“We have a strict testing regime for our new products, however, we wanted to push the C25G to its limit in a real-world setting; and as the generator is ideal for factories, we decided to use it to power our own site,” said Tejaskumar Amin, Global Chief Engineer for Cummins Power Systems. “Such a field-test is unique in Cummins’ 100-year history and we learned a lot about the product which will enable us to serve our customers better.”

Amin said the test is an example of how Cummins is working to reduce its carbon footprint through not only producing its own power but also exporting the surplus power to the grid. This underlines Cummins’ commitment to its own Planet 2050 Strategy, which includes reducing absolute greenhouse gas emissions from Cummins facilities and operations by 50%, as well as cutting absolute lifetime global greenhouse gas emissions from newly sold products by 25%.”

Over the course of the test, the C25G supplied a daily average of 300 kWh of electricity to the site and exported around 200 kWh of electricity to the national grid. With such an installation, Cummins gained huge financial savings and reduced the electricity consumption and reliance from the grid.

The C25G is engineered to deliver superior fuel efficiency with a power density of 500 kW (50Hz) and 580 kW (60Hz) from a 25 L engine, while providing reduced maintenance costs per kWh. The C25G generator series offers a total package of gas generator capabilities for prime, peaking power and island mode applications, while being suitable for a diverse set of industries ranging from hospitals and manufacturing, to commercial building and greenhouses requiring reliable continuous operation.

The C25G models comply with all global emissions regulations while delivering a high electrical efficiency of up to 41.6% (50Hz) and 40.6% (60Hz) on pipeline natural gas, down to 71 and 68 methane number (MN) respectively at full power. In addition to its generator capabilities, the advanced control systems fitted to the C25G series provide users with access to advanced monitoring, diagnostics and live trending analytics, maximizing the generators’ uptime and reducing maintenance labor costs.