On October, 2012, by 2pm everyone who could leave had already left New York City. The remaining residents hunkered down, hoping Superstorm Sandy would veer off into the Atlantic. By early evening the full force of the storm hit. A gigantic wall of water crashed into an electrical substation and 250,000 people were suddenly plunged into a blackout.  

The residents in lower Manhattan buildings faced an unappealing prospect. No heat, no flushing toilets and walking up 20 floors or more. For residents in the Brevoort, it was a different story.  The building had recently invested in a cogeneration system. They had their own on-site powerplant in the basement that produced electricity and hot water for the building.  Over the next week, a building that usually houses 720 people, had 1500 people staying there.

Not everyone was so lucky. Some hospitals and large buildings found their ‘emergency’ generators didn’t start or they had insufficient fuel storage for the extended outage. These ‘emergency’ generators had only been exercised once a month and getting service support during a hurricane isn’t so easy.

$250k of energy savings and back up power

For the Brevoort, having back-up power was a bonus. The primary reason they invested in a cogeneration system was for energy efficiency and utility bill savings. The power plant in their facility was saving them upwards of $250,000 every year since they could make their own power, hot water and cooling cheaper than buying the same energy from the utility.

More than a decade later, the utility grid has only become more unreliable. The cost of power has more than doubled. As the recent Wall Street Journal article showed, across the United States, utilities are facing a dramatic shortage of power. Infrastructure is getting older and is about to fail.

Reliable power is no longer just for a major weather event or an occasional power outage. Now businesses looking to expand can’t get enough power from the utility during peak times in many regions. If you’re spending more than $100,000 on energy a year, unreliable power or lack of power when you need it could cripple you. Reducing these expenses substantially could allow you to put the savings towards expanding your business and has an incredibly short payback.

40% Tax Credit

The federal government recognizes how critical these technologies are and is presently offering a 40% investment tax credit for anyone who invests in this technology in 2024.

Tecogen has shipped more than 3,200 units and our equipment has collectively run more than 10 million hours. If you’d like to see how much you could improve your resiliency to power outages and save tremendous amounts on your energy bills, fill out the form below and we can run a custom savings analysis for you for free.