In Malaga we experienced the wonder of Caterpillar

The Caterpillar Demonstration Centre in Malaga, Spain, is one of three in the world. The others Cat Demonstration Centers are based in Mexico and Illinois, US. The atmosphere is halfway between a Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western and the meticulous eye for detail that we are used to attaching to different scenarios, at least in Europe. In Malaga, really close to the movida of Costa del Sol, on the other hand, Caterpillar showed off an anthology of updates that launched the power generation into a further orbit. By the way, before we go any further, happy 100th birthday, Cat!

What did Caterpillar want to prove in Malaga? How to improve power generation from A to Z

Caterpillar’s anthology in the harmonic and functional Demonstration Center in Malaga will be with us for a while. What impressed us the most are the Energy Control System (ECS) solutions, the Cat ECS 300 and Cat ECS 400, and the introduction of the Cat G3500K generator set series.

The latter is yet another upgrade of the 97.6-litre (BxS 170×215 mm), which has made history in stationary applications. But that’s not all (so to speak) here. In summary, we anticipate the other insights Cat’s engineering has given us. Talking about “alternative” sources of energy, concerning hydrogen, the launch of the hydrogen demonstration at District Energy St Paul and the fuel cell demonstration with Microsoft, as well as the U.S. Department of Energy award earned by the Caterpillar team. HVO has been mentioned on the both shores of Atlantic Ocean (we remind you that the EU target for 2030 is 54% renewables of the total – in 2022 it was 23%). First, about the LCL Data Centers in Cat generator sets at their Brussels-West facility and the deployment of HVO-capable Cat generator sets by Peterson Power in California. The launch of Caterpillar’s hybrid microgrid power system for telecommunications towers, as well as their deployment by Orange Mali. The introduction of compact energy storage capabilities. Finally, the enlisting of UL Solutions for grid code certification of Cat power solutions in North America.

Cat ECS and K Series in a nutshell

Next week we will explore these two topics in more detail, before getting into the rest of Caterpillar’s schedule in Malaga. The Cat ECS 300 and ECS 400 control systems are conceived to be integrated with sites using singular or multiple power generation assets such as generator sets, battery energy storage, and renewable energy sources.

With ratings of 1.5 – 2 – 2.5 MWe at 50&60 Hz, the CNG K-series provides a total efficiency of 89.6% and an even cut in half the time it takes to feed energy into the grid. Compared to the previous generation of the same platform, it goes from 5-10 minutes to 4.5-5 minutes.