SMMPA Dedicates Cat® G20CM Natural Gas Generator Sets for Owatonna Energy Station

For Worldwide Release: August 8, 2018

Caterpillar Energy Solutions is pleased to participate in Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency’s (SMMPA’s) dedication of their 38.8 MW Owatonna Station, which has four Cat® G20CM34 natural gas generator sets, delivering  9.7 MW of electric generation capacity per generator set. Located in Owatonna, Minnesota – the Owatonna Energy Station is the most recent addition to SMMPA’s power supply portfolio. The new power plant replaces a facility that was damaged by the Straight River flooding of 2010 and will provide power to an estimated 25,000 Minnesota households.

“Owatonna is powered by Caterpillar’s largest natural gas generator set on the market,” said Claudio Martino, regional sales manager for Caterpillar Energy Solutions. “The G20CM34 generator set features a 720 RPM, 20-cylinder, natural gas-fired, spark ignited, V-shape, turbocharged and aftercooled engine that allows multiple fast starts per day and achieves high efficiency with low emissions, even in partial loads. These features make the G20CM34 generator set an ideal solution to provide key ancillary services to the local grid, such as spinning reserve and regulation,” states Martino.

The Owatonna Station is the second application of the Cat G20CM34 generator sets in the United States. Together with its 16 and 12-cylinder versions, Caterpillar has over 150 of the GCM34 engines installed in the United States and Canada, representing over 1,000 MW of installed capacity in power and gas compression projects, which makes this product one of its most successful medium speed solutions globally.

“We are pleased to have this new facility on-line, providing reliable and cost-effective energy to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) market and hedging energy costs for our eighteen member cities,” said Mark Mitchell, director of operations and chief operating officer at SMMPA. “The new Cat units replaced an older gas-fired steam generation plant that was lost to a flood. The new units are much more efficient and flexible to meet the ever-changing demands on a system with wind and solar generation.”

“We value our working relationship with Caterpillar,” said Mitchell. “This is our second successful project with them. We first worked with them to build our 25 MW Fairmont Energy Station in 2013, which is powered by four Cat G16CM34 generator sets. We have been very pleased with the Fairmont units which, in part, drove our decision to again partner with Caterpillar on the Owatonna Energy Station. Caterpillar has been very flexible in incorporating our specific needs and interests into the overall design, making them a great power generation partner,” said Mitchell.

Ziegler Cat, Caterpillar's local dealer, will support SMMPA on the Owatonna project. “We are excited to continue our long-standing relationship with SMMPA and its members with this project,” said Marc Kocina, vice president of Ziegler Power Systems. “We are honored to partner in providing parts and technical support for this new energy asset.”

Contact Sarah Pullen at Pullen_Sarah_C@cat.com