Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Lunardi's new power play puts neighbor in hot water

By Jeff Kearns

Lunardi's Market and The Terraces begin a unique partnership this week, when the store starts up two new co-generators that will provide electricity to the store and hot water to the retirement community.

The co-generation devices are energy-savers being pioneered by Coast Intelligent of San Marcos, which has built about 100 around the country.

The co-generators will provide about half the store's electricity by running two generators: standard Ford V-8 engines modified to run on natural gas. By using the generators, Lunardi's cuts its power bill by some 50 percent.

Electric motors spinning inside each co-generator put out about 60,000 watts, which run through switches and breakers on the side of the building and into the regular electrical system.

"The hot water is a byproduct of the generators," Lunardi's accountant Walter Lim said. "We can't use that much hot water, so we put a line to The Terraces and we'll be selling them about 20 to 30 percent of their hot water at a discount."

Water that cycles through and cools the engines comes out at about 200 degrees and circulates to The Terraces through 1,200 feet of pipes buried under the alley behind the store, Coast Intelligent operations manager Kent Renard says. Most of the devices built so far have gone to hospitals, he says.

"Basically it's just a money-saving deal," Renard says. "You can produce your own electricity for less than you can buy it from PG&E." The co-generation setup cost about $300,000, which is expected to be recouped in about three years of reduced energy expenses.

"In the era of deregulation, partnerships like this are to everyone's advantage," Terraces Administrator Joan Bosworth said. "A lot of the residents shop at Lunardi's, so they like the partnership. They think it's wonderful."

In the event of a power failure, the co-generators shut off immediately to avoid backfeeding power through the PG&E grid, and a diesel generator takes over. Power should be back on in about 30 seconds.

In the co-generators, sensors monitoring oil temperature, oil pressure, water temperature, water flow and other variables are hooked via modem to dedicated phone lines. Engineers look in at the machines every day from the company's headquarters, but if something goes wrong with the machines, they are programmed to shut off automatically, then leave a message describing the problem on the company's mainframe.

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