Wilson Microturbine™

Wilson Solarpower is developing a revolutionary 300 kWe microturbine that uses ceramic components and a unique three-stage turbine to achieve a breakthrough level of electrical efficiency.

Ultra-efficient and clean power generation creates new cost-saving opportunities for many commercial and industrial applications. When considering the many benefits of installing a microturbine energy system, most potential users must achieve an acceptable value proposition based on fuel costs and how efficiently the microturbine converts that fuel to useful energy. Existing microturbines operate at 20% to 35% electrical efficiency and must use waste-heat recovery systems to justify economic feasibility. Only those facilities and process operations that have a need for continuous onsite thermal energy (hot water or hot air) are currently acceptable candidates for existing microturbines.

Because the efficiency of a Wilson Microturbine™ is estimated by experts to be 50%, it does not require heat recovery to provide an attractive economic return. In many regions, the microturbine will be able to generate electric-only power at a cost less than local utility rates. And in some high-rate locations, the microturbine has the potential to generate an annual IRR up to 200%. Using the heat recovered from the microturbine engine to meet onsite hot water and heating/drying needs can create a total system efficiency up to 80% to deliver even greater economic value.

The Wilson Microturbine will dramatically improve the energy economics of many municipalities, commercial businesses, and industrial processes — while also meeting current and planned regulations for harmful emissions. For some installations, the Wilson Microturbine has a sufficiently high electrical efficiency to be a profit center. Other planned applications that could significantly benefit include commercial vehicles and marine engines. 

Breakthrough Technologies

The ultra-efficient Wilson Heat Exchanger™ and the ingenious design of the Wilson Microturbine combine to enable exceptionally high efficiency. The synergy of these technologies is expected to offer least-cost and lowest-emissions electricity for distributed-power installations as well as other industrial and commercial applications with high energy consumption.

ELEVEN-inch, high-temperature, low-speed ceramic rotors

Ceramic blades used in a proprietary low-speed turbine permit higher turbine inlet temperatures that significantly increase performance and efficiency. The low-speed and low-pressure design (compared to competing microturbines) reduces stresses in the rotor and extends system life.

Up to 98% EFFECTIVE, long-life, ceramic-core regenerator

The high heat-transfer efficiency of the Wilson Heat Exchanger results in a lower optimum-cycle pressure ratio to permit a lower blade speed of the ceramic rotors. And because the ceramic core of the heat exchanger transfers more heat and permits a much higher operating temperature than conventional metal-core systems, it contributes more thermal energy to preheating the inlet air.

Three-stage turbine design

Rather than using a typical single-stage turbine design, the Wilson Microturbine uses three stages to improve performance and raise the overall microturbine efficiency to 50% — well above the performance of any previous microturbine.

The Basis for the Prediction of High Thermal Efficiency in Wilson TurboPower Gas-Turbine Engines

Broad Applications

The Wilson Microturbine will offer new and beneficial energy-management opportunities for many types of businesses and applications requiring economical, dependable, and low-emissions onsite power, either independent or connected to the grid. Some of these applications will include:

• Distributed power generation
• Onsite generation at point of use
• Military power systems
• Transportation propulsion systems
• High energy-consumption sites
• High energy-cost markets
• Facility base-load power
• Peak shaving
• Sites isolated from grid power
• Utility substation generation
• Combined heat and power (CHP)
• Environmental and energy service company (EESCO) installations