E-Finity Corporation was founded by Jeff Beiter in 1991 to implement energy conservation throughout the Mid-Atlantic states. In 2007, Beiter formed E-Finity Distributed Generation to be the exclusive Capstone distributor for the Mid-Atlantic with the purpose of solely selling Capstone microturbines. With the distributorship came the inheritance of about (26) C65 Oil and Gas (O&G) units located at various gas transmission and storage facilities and (1) Commercial and Industrial (C&I) site, the Masonic Village. E-Finity, now the exclusive Capstone Turbine Distributor in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States and the Marcellus and Utica shales, has seen its O&G fleet grow from (7) sites to over (100) powered by more than (332) microturbines. The company’s C&I sector has expanded to a little under 50 CHP/CCHP plants and is poised to continue its expansion due to the market’s transformation and the company’s growing hot water, chilled water, and steam product partners. In total, E-Finity’s fleet boasts over 500 engines and is expected to grow by an additional 20 engines by the end of the 2016.

E-Finity tirelessly spends time educating and building relationships with not just customers and potential clients, but with natural gas providers, engineering companies, contractors, and major ESCOs, as well as supporting the adoption of absorption chillers, steam, and hot water technologies – allowing them to boost sales in the up and coming small scale CHP marketplace. By identifying three main channels – oil and gas, commercial and industrial, and biogas – they are able to support the market and provide customers with a complete package, from application engineering to product specifications, startup, and ongoing FPP services. This includes, for example, the aggressive education of natural gas transmission companies on how CHP/ CCHP can increase their burner tip sales or how ESCOs and contractors can have their traditional boilers and chillers now create electricity simultaneously with or without the grid, supporting the heightened interest in resilient packages.

Since the units run a variety of gases, including coal bed methane, biogas, natural gas, and diesel, each customer is unique. They take the time to evaluate every project on a case-by-case basis by using a market-specific “Site Survey” form and the E-Finity “Go-No-Go” process to determine whether a project is viable with little additional information from the customer aside from electric and utility data. This is provided by E-Finity at no cost to the customer, while truly qualifying a customers’ interest with a high degree of accuracy.

E-Finity’s staff has proudly grown from one sales engineer and one applications engineer to a team of more than 25, located throughout the territory to serve the ever-growing and changing market demand. Their Customer Service and Applications Engineering departments are second to none and go above and beyond to listen to the needs of customers in our territory. For example, they took it upon themselves to improve upon Capstone’s CLC system by developing a microturbine interface module (mTIM), a PLC-based controller that performs more turbine and system diagnostics instantly in real time. The mTIM better fits customers’ needs and allows E-Finity’s Customer Service department and ASPs to remotely monitor a facility, field alarms, as well as diagnose and troubleshoot systems 24/7. This also means that E-Finity can fix the system without being onsite, minimizing downtime and maximizing uptime for the end user. Developed and manufactured, the mTIM controller is now a standard and integral part of every E-Finity microturbine installation.E-Finity's Applications Engineering department supports the sales team by meticulously evaluating each site individually to agree upon the best solution and to ensure that every system is sized and specified properly – avoiding onsite stress later in the commissioning process. They program their controllers to every customer’s defined needs. When there are specific needs that have yet to be met within the market, E-Finity is able to adapt and meet those demands, as well. This led directly to the creation of their skid mounted microturbine solutions. The onsite configuration and installation of multiple parallel units can be labor-intensive and time-consuming. However, by packaging Capstone’s C30 and C65 microturbine units into one compact, customizable skid, customers are able to bring their sites online quickly to take advantage of market prices and demand. Skid mounted systems also significantly reduce construction and start-up costs, while increasing the reliability of their power systems. The benefits of the skid include a single fuel gas connection and electrical terminations at a single marshalling cabinet. The skid also allows all the units on the skid to be factory tested and pre-commissioned before the units arrive on location. Since its inception, the customers have reported that the onsite installation time has been reduced from weeks to a single day. In fact, once the multiple-unit system is delivered onsite, it can be powered up in a matter of hours.

E-Finity's sales team has evolved to not only include their team in house, but three additional satellite offices located in Washington, DC, Clarksburg, WV, and Fort Myers, FL. They recently developed relationships with several representatives in their Southern territory, allowing for more localized Capstone eyes and ears on the street. By being constantly involved in various industry-recognized associations and participating in high-level tradeshows and events, the sales team is able to stay at the forefront of the industry. Their vision to bring equipment to tradeshows sets them apart from the competition and by continually doing site visits, ribbon cuttings, press releases, and case studies, they are able to stay visible and current. Their marketing efforts in the form of ever-evolving brochures, email marketing campaigns, and eye-catching displays ensure that the buyer always knows who they are.

E-Finity heavily contributes their success to their sales qualifying process, their sales and application engineering support team, the development of their mTIM controller, and champion Customer Service Department. But most importantly, their success comes from their desire to completely educate the market, willingness to adapt to the ever-changing demands of their customers, and continually meeting and exceeding client expectations throughout the entire sales cycle.