Dedicated to enabling the transition to cleaner energy, Bowman Power Group designs and manufactures electrified turbomachinery for the industrial combustion engine and fuel cell sector. In an exclusive interview, CEO Paul Dowman-Tucker discussed the environmental benefits of these systems. Report by Imogen Ward.
ASthe world races to meet net zero, there are companies behind the scenes working hard to ensure these goals are met; Bowman Power Group is one of those businesses.
“Our impact on sustainability is a lot less obvious than some,” said CEO Paul Dowman-Tucker. “Currently, we mainly work with internal combustion engines (ICEs) that are generally considered to have a negative environ mental impact.
However, whilst we all envisage a future that is net zero, the current scene is a long way off that. A transition in fuel and infrastructur e needs to occur to achieve net zero. Bowman’s mission is to ensure ICEs are as sustainable as they can be as we work towards that transition.”
Demonstrating a serious commitment to the clean energy transition, Bowman has successfully developed three essential product lines
that enable ICEs to maintain their power without sacrificing the environment.
The longest running product under the Bowman name is the eTurbine. Having been manufactured since the company’s inception in 2003, eTurbine successfully recovers waste heat energy from an ICE’s exhaust gas, resulting in the production of additional free electrical energy.
“We’ve dedicated more than 30 million running hours of experience to the eTurbine, and in the last six months the fleet has generated around 75,000 MWhrs of free energy which otherwise would have been lost as heat ”
Mr Dowman-Tucker explained.
“We also develop eCompressors, which help to boost ICEs, and allow them to burn fuel more cleanly. Our final product is the eTurbocharger which can do the jobs of both these machines.”
Project Highlight
Bowman has been collaborating with a turbocharger OEM partner on a co-development project. The goal is to create an eTurbocharger for heavyduty trucks; successfully harmonising the harsh environment of a truck engine turbocharger and the sensitivity of a very high-speed electric machine. The project has pushed the boundaries of Bowman’s capabilities.
Fuelling a new generation
Securing the future of the eCompressor, Bowman has recently developed the direct-to-market StartIQ™. This two-stage next-generation com pressor runs at 50kW and accelerates from rest to 90,000rpm in under a second.
“StartIQ™ is really powerful,” said Mr Dowman-Tucker. “The renewables sector is our initial target market, and that won’t be limited just to the UK; anywhere in the world that has significant renewables penetration is of interest to us.
“Renewables are dependent on externa l factors that mean they are intermittent power sources. There needs to be a provision in place for when that intermittency occurs. Currently, the UK relies on gas-fired generators to solve this however, these are often slow to reach full power. StartIQ™ is the perfect solution to this problem.”
With the announcement of National Grid Group’s new contracting framework, Quick Reserve, the current natural gas infrastructure cannot compete. Quick Reserve will require energy sources to ramp-up and feed into the grid within one minute. Due to turbo-lag on the gas-fired generators (and their slow turbochargers), renewable power sources currently take as long as five minutes to begin supplying.
StartIQ™, however, has the power to ensure these engines can participate after all. The system ensures a successful ramp-up in seconds by supplementing energy to the engine’s turbocharger. Following pilot tests, Bowman discovered
that the StartIQ could also slash CO2 emissions by using a tenth of the fuel required in a standard engine warm-up.
“These results really prove the positive environmental impact that can be had from our eCompressors,” said Mr Dowman-Tucker. “It removes the need to constantly renew generator infrastruc ture, because our eCompressors
“Bowman is dedicated to enabling the energy transition to reach net zero, and our electrified turbomachinery is a vital part of that journey”
are effectively upgrading an asset that is already there. We can upgrade existing generating assets to be fit for the future needs of the grid, which is much more sustainable than building out new capacity – especially when that new capacity is battery storage, which incurs an enormous carbon cost in manufacture and installation.
More power, more possibilities
Complementary to the new eCompressor, Bowman is developing a core power electronics module, which has opera tional capabilities of up to 60kW of power.
“It is quite difficult to find a power electronics platform on the market which is fast enough to control machines at the speed and power levels we operate at,” said Mr Dowman-Tucker. “On top of that, we would also need it to control power that flows in two directions. Over the years, we have developed several generations of power electronics.
“Bowman’s new platform will incorporate Silicon Carbide MOSFET technology, which has been around for a while, but is novel in
our application. We are really taking a big leap forward with our core technology. The new generation will be compatible with our electrified turbomachinery, but we would also like to reach a point where our competitors can use it in their applications as well.”
There is certainly a lot taking place on the production side at Bowman, and with these advancements, the group anticipates sales will double this financial year and again next year. To accommodate this growth, Bowman has taken the decision to relocate to bigger premises.
“Our new facility will be operational by the first quarter of 2024, and it will have
enough capacity to cover our growth over the next three to five years” said Mr Dowman-Tucker. “Previously, we haven’t been as production-oriented, but the new facility gives us the opportunity to really explore that side of the business again. The new building is more efficient than our old one, and it also has an array of solar panels, which we would like to expand in the future. This is only the beginning of our journey: not only to provide sustainable products, but also to improve the sustainability of our own operations.
“We will soon establish a sus tainability baseline from which we can improve, and we hope to collaborate with Southampton University to achieve this.”
Steering towards net zero
The production of Bowman’s electrified turbomachinery will be considered in its new sustainability baseline. Currently, the impact of the production process is offset in mere hours of each system’s running time.
“Our baseline will focus on our energy costs: this is essential with the operation of a bigger facility and the increase in pro duction capacity,” said Mr DowmanTucker. “One of the test processes we use today is a hot gas stand; it’s an effective way of testing the products, but it does burn a lot of fuel to do so. With the move, a more sus tainable recreation of this test is possible. We are really broadening the possibilities of what we can achieve in the coming years.”
On the topic of development, Mr Dowman-Tucker laid out Bowman’s main goal for the coming years: “Our growth journey is a key element of everything we do. We really want to establish ourselves in the technological sector and enhance our sustainability.
“Although our sustainability story isn’t as conventional as other companies,” he con cluded, “Bowman is dedicated to enabling the energy transition to reach net zero, and our electrified turbomachinery is a vital part of that journey.”
