"I want to be that person who provides support firsthand because I want to let people know the world is a better place if we support each other." – Tu What motivates you to do the work that matters? For Tu, Business Intelligence Analyst for Cat Digital, it’s all about the rewarding feeling that comes from giving back. When he was working at a sneaker store in Taiwan during his undergraduate studies, a coworker motivated Tu to push himself to achieve more. After teaching himself English and continuing his education in the U.S., Tu joined #TeamCaterpillar and quickly brought his data visualization skills and passion to the team. Fast forward to today, Tu continues to inspire others by creating data visualization tutorials in Mandarin and visiting Taiwan to present his knowledge in person. Build a career that matters. Because you do: https://lnkd.in/ecCMA3Wg 

A site- and engine-specific maintenance program built around trend analysis can maximize your equipment’s most valuable commodity: productive time online.

Your gas engine-generator sets’ most valuable commodity is time – specifically uptime producing power and revenue. It follows that the goal of engine maintenance is to enable as much uptime as possible. In essence, high uptime spreads capital and operating costs over more kilowatt hours – reducing the critical variable of cost per kilowatt-hour. While the costs of replacement components, fluids, supplies and labor are important, uptime outweighs them all. That naturally means unplanned downtime is to be avoided, especially for major failures and lengthy repairs. But it also means planned downtime must be kept to the minimum appropriate to the application.

Microgrids that combine renewable energy with diesel or gas generator sets and energy storage capabilities can deliver clean, cost-effective electricity to remote locations with limited or no access to reliable utility power.

Cost-effective electric power has been a challenge for communities and industrial or commercial installations without access to a strong utility grid. They have had to rely on engine- or turbine-driven generator sets that, while highly reliable, typically produce power at a much higher cost than a large utility. Now a better model is emerging that combines newly cost-effective renewable energy from wind or solar sources with conventional diesel- or gas-fueled generation. These installations, called hybrid microgrids, also employ energy storage to add power system stability and enable further energy cost reduction. 

Aided by sharp declines in the cost of wind and solar energy, as well as lower energy storage costs relative to the price of fuel, hybrid microgrids are well suited to a host of applications, including individual buildings, resorts, mine sites, remote villages, small islands and others. The most promising applications are those with total power demand from 100 kW to 20 MW.