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San Francisco's Landmark Transamerica Pyramid Building to Add $3.4 Million Cogeneration Power System
Aegon USA Awards Contract to Northern Power for Efficient CHP System
05/04/06
www.northernpower.com
SAN FRANCISCO, April 29 San Francisco's landmark Transamerica Pyramid is almost through with a two-year complete cleaning.
WAITSFIELD, Vt., May 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Northern Power, a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: DESC), has been awarded a $3.4 million contract by AEGON USA Realty Advisors, a unit of Netherlands-based Aegon NV (NYSE/ADR: AEG). Aegon is one of the top five commercial lenders in the US.
Under the agreement, Northern Power will design, install and commission a 1.1 megawatt (MW) combined heat and power (CHP) system for the landmark Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery Street in San Francisco, California. The 48-story building, managed by Lowe Enterprises, is known as the "Pyramid," and is located in the heart of San Francisco's financial district.
System Details
Northern Power's CHP system will consist of two 560 kW natural gas-fired reciprocating engine generators, which will operate in parallel with the utility's downtown network grid. The two generators are designed to provide approximately 70% of the electrical requirements of the 530,000 square foot commercial office building. Recovered waste heat from the engines will be used to heat the building, displacing 100% of the steam currently purchased for heating purposes. Additionally, waste heat will drive a 320-ton absorption chiller that will be installed to create chilled water for the building.
Third System in Downtown San Francisco
The project marks Northern Power's third CHP system that will be interconnected with Pacific Gas & Electric Company's downtown network grid. "With the systems we have installed at Equity Office Properties' One Market Street and 201 Mission Street, this project adds to our considerable experience and strengthens our leadership position in the California CHP market," stated Darren Jamison, president of Northern Power. "We look forward to providing more commercial clients in Northern California with exceptional power systems, services and products."
System Qualifies for CPUC Rebate
By recovering waste heat from the engine's exhaust system and using it to meet the building's heating and cooling needs, the power system's overall efficiency will increase substantially. The higher fuel efficiencies to be realized by the CHP system qualify it for an incentive rebate from the Self- Generation Incentive Program of the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) that would reduce the installed cost of the system by over 15%. Established in 2001, the Program encourages on-site generation in order to reduce peak demand and avoid rolling blackouts such as those experienced by California in recent years.
Key Benefits
Mark Novack at AEGON USA stated: "We expect Northern Power's CHP system to help us achieve three key objectives: to strengthen our environmental commitment, deliver annual energy savings, and increase the competitiveness of AEGON's property in the downtown commercial office market." Novack added, "We chose Northern Power to design and implement the system due to their excellent reputation in California for providing reliable cogeneration systems."
"We are pleased to have been selected by AEGON and Lowe Enterprises to install this solution for its downtown San Francisco landmark," stated Charles "Chach" Curtis, Vice President of Onsite Sales at Northern Power. "This system will offer Lowe greater control over energy use at the Transamerica Pyramid by providing them with a solution for generating their own reliable, efficient and cost-effective onsite power."
About AEGON USA
AEGON USA is the US subsidiary of the AEGON Insurance Group, a leading international financial services organization. Its parent company is Netherlands-based AEGON N.V., one of the largest publicly owned life insurance companies in the world.
About Lowe Enterprises
Over the past 33 years, Lowe has developed, acquired or managed more than $7 billion of real estate assets. The firm maintains offices nationwide. Lowe is widely recognized for the caliber of its projects, the quality and stability of its management team and its proven ability to achieve superior returns on all types of real estate through a variety of cycles. Privately owned by a group of 42 employee shareholders, Lowe currently employs over 8,000 people, with a management team of approximately 250 men and women.
About Northern Power
Northern Power, a Distributed Energy Systems company, offers reliable power systems, services and products to commercial, industrial, government, utility, and military customers. The company also conducts research and development in the areas of renewable energy, distributed generation and hydrogen technology. Founded in 1974, Northern Power is headquartered in Waitsfield, Vermont and employs 200 people with engineering, fulfillment, and customer-support capabilities. The company is a wholly owned operating unit of Distributed Energy Systems Corp. For more information, visit www.northernpower.com.
About Distributed Energy Systems Corp.
Distributed Energy Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: DESC) creates and delivers products and solutions to the emerging decentralized energy marketplace, giving users greater control over their energy cost, quality, and reliability. As the parent company of Proton Energy Systems, Inc. (www.protonenergy.com) and Northern Power Systems, Inc., Distributed Energy Systems delivers a combination of practical, ready-today energy solutions and the solid business platforms for capitalizing on the changing energy landscape. For more information, visit www.distributed-energy.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements contained herein concerning Northern Power's and Distributed Energy's goals, guidance, revenue projections and other statements that are not statements of historical fact, including statements concerning the performance of remote power systems, may be deemed to be forward-looking information. Without limiting the foregoing, words such as "anticipates", "believes", "could", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "might", "should", "will", and "would" and other forms of these words or similar words are intended to identify forward-looking information. Northern Power's and Distributed Energy's actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors. Northern Power and Distributed Energy each disclaim any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
Factors that could cause results to differ materially from those contained in Northern's and Distributed Energy's forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, failure of our products and systems to perform as specified or achieve commercial acceptance, the impact of competitive products and systems, and other factors detailed in Distributed Energy's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and other filings Distributed Energy may make from time to time with the SEC.
SOURCE Distributed Energy Systems Corp.
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