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V O L . X X I N O. I V F E B R UA R Y 2 3 , 2 0 1 5 14 Stapp claims the first version of the Peregrine Engine, which will run on natural gas, will be efficient. e differentiator in his design is that air makes a single pass through the Peregrine Engine, but unlike other engines, the heat does not pass through. Instead, the heat is retained in the engine through a process called a "thermal flywheel," where the SCO fluid moves continuously in a circle. It's a way of recapturing heat that otherwise would go into the atmo- sphere as exhaust, and thus makes the engine more efficient, he says. Stapp already is looking at broader applications, even within the power generation niche. He says waste heat from the system could be used to create refrigeration using a so-called adsorption chiller. at chiller could be combined with the Peregrine Engine so customers could have both electric power and cooling. One application he says would benefit: the cloud computing server farm at Brunswick Landing. Another use is to add different fuels. A big target for Stapp is burning biomass, because of the large amount of biomass available in the state's forests. "Our technology gives us the abil- ity to generate electric power at the same price using biomass as we would to generate it using natural gas," says Stapp. at's a big plus, he adds, because currently biomass is only affordable with government subsidies. Doody says there's potential as well to piggyback the turbines to create larger power installations. "We've taken a preliminary look if you could take the modules [turbines] and have from two to five of them side-by-side, sharing the same site infrastructure. It looks like that is more than feasible," he says. Looking for partners Peregrine Turbine is one of several com- panies founded by Stapp, a former GE Aircraft Engines engineer. Peregrine Consulting Inc. was founded in May in Massachusetts, but he moved it to Maine in . He started Peregrine Turbine in April to act as a parent company that would hold the intellec- tual property for inventions such as the turbine. In December he founded PTT Distributed Energy Systems LLC as a subsidiary for the distributed energy application of the turbine technology. Parent company Peregrine Turbine already has raised . million, and is in the middle of raising another . million in equity. Peregrine Turbine also has a , Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant and has been selected for a Phase III award. PTT Distributed Energy Systems also is raising equity, hav- ing sold a little over million of a . million round. Stapp declined to name investors in the equity rounds. Stapp plans to found other sub- sidiaries as other applications for the technology emerge. e idea is to com- mercialize products by seeking joint ventures between the subsidiaries and well-established companies with market share, the ability to support sales and service and perhaps also bring manufac- turing expertise and technology. "PTT Distributed Energy Systems does not have employees," Stapp explains. "e objective here is to create the engineering and business develop- ment capacity at the parent level, and service the subsidiaries from the parent." He is working now to publicize the technology. "We've launched a public relations and messaging campaign last year," he says, "and I spoke at the Turbine Engine Technology Symposium in Dayton, Ohio [September ], which is a Department of Defense event for aircraft engine manufac- turers and military. We rolled out our technology there and then in the same week I spoke at the Supercritical CO Power Cycles Symposium in Pittsburgh. It's the beginning of mak- ing the industry aware of who we are and what our technology is." Another goal for the company is to create jobs in Maine and keep its technology in the state. It has hired two recent graduates and an intern from the University of Maine at Orono. "All of our investors are told up front about the state of Maine objectives," says Stapp. "e technol- ogy stays here." L V , M a i n e b i z s e n i o r w r i t e r , c a n b e r e a c h e d a t @ . toll free: 866 494 2020 | www.gwi.net Hosted PBX Phone Systems | Hosted File Sharing, Backup , Backup , and Recovery | Access to New Fiber Ne r Ne r tw tw t orks an gwi.net and more… Leverage your broadband. Imagine the possibilities. Broadband is just the beginning. Save time, save money and say goodbye to costly capital investment by leveraging the broadband you already have. We'll show you how. » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E Our technology gives us the ability to generate electric power at the same price using biomass as we would to generate it using natural gas. — David Stapp, Peregrine Turbine Technologies

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