Power worries boost company

Nobody in manufacturing likes higher

utility bills, but officials of Hess

Microgen LLC have some mixed

feelings.

Business is gangbusters at the

Mound House-based operation that

makes self-contained co-generation

units. The company says the strong

sales are partly the result of higher

electric prices and the uncertainties

surrounding deregulation in many parts

of the United States.

An initiative of the federal government

is giving the company an additional

boost.

Hess Microgen last week launched

operation of a 34,000-square-foot

expansion of its production facilities.

Its employment, meanwhile, has risen

to 65 from three just 30 months ago.

The company, a unit of Amerada

Hess Corp., makes pre-packaged cogeneration

plants that allow customers

to generate their own electricity.

One recent customer, for example, is

Pacific Clay Products of Lake Elsinore,

Calif. The five, 200-kilowatt units that

Pacific Clay bought will generate about

65 percent of the electricity used by the

brick and tile manufacturer. The heat

produced by the units, which are fired

by natural gas, will help offset existing

gas-driven dryers.

In all, Pacific Clay estimates the

system will reduce its energy costs by

$400,000 annually. That translates into

a payback of less than two years.

Pacific Clay isn't alone.

"We have experienced very strong

order growth over the past 12 months

and expect this trend to continue," said

Steve Brandon, vice president of operations

for Hess Microgen.

Part of that growth reflects a goal of

the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency to encourage distributed generation

of electricity to supplement traditional

big generators.

In 1998, the EPA said it wanted to

double the nation's capacity of co-generation

facilities producing electricity

and usable heat, and it's provided

incentives to participating companies.

Brandon said the new facility will

streamline production flow.

The new building will handle cabinet

assembly, plumbing, wiring, welding,

testing and detail work. Co-generation

systems mounted on skids will

move through the building in an

assembly-line type of system.

The company has more than 100

systems operating in the United States

and abroad.

Hess Microgen was incorporated in

January 2000. The next month, it

acquired the micro-generation business

of Strategic Resource Solutions

Corp., a subsidiary of Carolina Power

& Light Company. Bob Miller, senior

vice president of Hess Microgen,

founded SRS.