Vegawatt plugs in grease-fired restaurant generator

In a sign that waste may be a favored energy source this year, a small company on Monday said it has successfully plugged a vegetable oil generator into the electricity grid at a Boston-area restaurant.

The Vegawatt system, developed by Owl Power Systems, burns used-up vegetable oil from restaurant fryers to make electricity.

The Vegwatt generator burns vegetable oil from restaurant fryers to make electricity on-site.

(Credit: Owl Power Systems)

The company, which has been self-funded until now, expects to close a series A venture funding round later this week, according to Owl Power Systems CEO James Peret.

A 6-kilowatt machine has been online for about a month at Finz Seafood & Grill in Dedham, Mass. It's about half the size of the normal vegetable oil dumpster, at 6 feet high, 6 feet wide, and 2 feet deep.

The Vegawatt doesn't produce nearly as much electricity as the restaurant consumes, but that's by design. Built with a relatively small diesel engine, it's sized to consume all the vegetable oil that a typical restaurant produces.

"Our philosophy is to make the maximum use of the oil available. We could go to a bigger system, but once you start talking about trucking oil to fuel this generator, the economics go out the window," Peret said on Monday. "Why burn more dinosaurs to move oil when you can install one machine outside your back door, and burn it there?"

The test at the seafood restaurant found that the Vegawatt burned all the fryer oil it produced and cut the electricity cost by about $800 a month, or about 15 percent of its total electricity bill. The machine can also be used to make hot water.

Customers lease the product through a third-party leasing company for $435 a month, which includes two years of maintenance. That means that the unit generates thousands of dollars a year for restaurants, said Peret.

Rather than dump oil into a waste bin, restaurant workers put it into the Vegawatt machine. Normally, a restaurant needs to pay to have the oil hauled.

Since it's burning oil, the generator creates carbon dioxide emissions and other air pollutants. But because of the smaller engine, and because it's burning vegetable oil rather that petroleum-based oil, it pollutes less than traditional diesel generators do.

Noise has not been a big concern, Peret said. "I've seen people take cell phone calls next to this machine when it was running at full power," he said.

After securing financing, the company plans to set up a manufacturing facility in Massachusetts and have about 150 units installed by next year.

[greentalk]

Is it noisy like a generator? Anna www.green-talk.com

[mlamonica]

I haven't stood next to one and heard it operate but the president of the company says that it's quieter than a generator. See last two paragraphs of the article. It's a diesel engine that's smaller than a car's, so that should give us an idea.

[Get_Bent]

Obviously, you didn't read the whole article. Second paragraph from the end:

Noise has not been a big concern, Peret said. "I've seen people take cell phone calls next to this machine when it was running at full power," he said.

[Joe Real]

Things like this one should not cost much more than a highly efficient diesel powered generators of the same capacity. Probably no more than 20% than the price of a 6 kW generator. You can get a silent generator at ebay with free shipping for just $3,383. Add the attachments to filter and preheat the oil, minor modifications to use exhaust for hot water heat exchanger, it should not be more than $1,000 additional job. So it is costing you $4,383. And because this Vegawatt company is claiming it as green, would lease the $4,383 machine for $435/month. This is a rip-off!

If you bought a silent generator, hire someone to do the mods, you paid off everything in 6 months, if you have enough grease to feed this thing to generate you $800/month of electricity. So why bother with VegaWatt? The companies that sell the silent generators should do the mod's to have flex-fuel capability and they can sell more of this unit at just $4,000 per 6 kW generator.

When going green, the companies like VegaWatt should not go on a rip-off rampage. They should decrease the price to be just a little pricier than what can be done if you do it yourself. Most of these start-up companies wanted to go big bucks right away, and those will not be adopted just like the wind turbines which are sold far more than the prices of the components, and none of these are ground-breaking ideas worthy of any patents. These are very old technologies.

The cheap silent diesel generator at eBay which can be modified to use restaurant grease only sells for $3,383 with free shipping:
http://cgi.ebay.com/6-KW-Silent-Enclosed-Diesel-Generator-6000W-FREE-SHIP_W0QQitemZ170266243503QQcmdZViewItem

[sanenazok]

That's my concern exactly...why would this thing cost $10K! I imagine there are installation costs, too. This company jumps on the green tech bandwagon and wants customers to pay them for the privilege. Next, we'll read how this company's products are certified by some new gov. agency Obama sets up and then the price goes up more...but you get a tax cut to adopt an overpriced technology.

[dargon19888]

While the lease rates may be high, I don't think that it should be a deal breaker.

The lease option takes the risk out of owning allowing businesses to see if the generator works as promised.

At the end of the lease, there usually is an option to return the generator or purchase it.

So anything that could lower the risks of adoption isn't a bad thing. Like all things, leases are negotiable.
Trying to do it yourself is possible, but it means taking your eye off your business.

[Joe Real]

The main point is that, many competitors can easily fill this niche, especially the current manufacturers of diesel generators to allow biodiesel such as grease. If it is that expensive, then many others will build it themselves, lease it as well. There is nothing new that needs patenting. The basic components are available in the market. This is a good business to get into if the pricing is very lucrative.

[carlhage]

Not mentioned above is that the unit includes "clean diesel" emission controls-- Tier 4. The comment on vegawatt.com is confusing to me though as Tier 4 refers to off-road generators (I think is required now), and the "lesser Tier 2" for autos is a different set of rules. At least it won't be belching smoke and fumes like older generators.

[bo1700]

I know a guy here in Miami that has a sports bar and uses about 30-40 gallons of vegetable oil per week for French fries, etc.. He has a guy come by and pick up his used oil and pays him, the owner, 71 cents per gallon picked up. it is my understanding that almost ANY diesel engine can use veggy oil as fuel, with a few adaptations for warming and straining first. Sounds like that eBay engine would pay for itself in less than a year, even with the adaptations, and after that its pure, clean, Green profit for the owner..