APR Energy, Cat and Ring Power sign five year cooperation deal

Caterpillar, Cat dealer Ring Power and APR Energy have signed a five year agreement to cooperate on international power rental projects, particularly in emerging markets.

APR will work with Caterpillar, Florida-based Ring Power and the Cat dealer network worldwide to win power plant jobs. Under the agreement, Cat will supply mobile generator sets through Ring Power to APR Energy, which is also based in Florida. Ring Power and APR have been working together for many years.

Under the agreement, APR will use Caterpillar as its engine source at "beneficial" prices and will also have access to power rental contract opportunities sourced by Cat's worldwide dealer network.

Caterpillar or its dealers will not get any commission on power projects won. However, a spokesman for APR Energy said it would use Cat dealers for service and support on contracts identified by Caterpillar. These contracts that can be worth several hundred thousands of dollars a month for large projects.

Many of Caterpillar's dealers are already involved in power rentals, but often at the local level and not in major international projects. The deal will give Cat access to that market, where APR will compete head to head with Aggreko.

"I have been doing business with Caterpillar for more than 20 years, and APR has used their power modules for its entire history", said John Campion, chief executive officer of APR, "We know Caterpillar well and have great respect for them. This is an exciting win-win for all of us. With this agreement, we can work together to fulfil a far greater number of global power opportunities."

Bill Rohner, Caterpillar vice president with responsibility for electric power, said; "We are pleased to be working with Ring Power and APR Energy as we expand our growth in the international power projects business. APR's experience in temporary power solutions, Caterpillar's engineering and product expertise and Ring Power's rental experience will enable us to better serve our customers".

As part of the agreement, Cat dealer Ring Power will provide application, engineering, sales and product support to APR Energy.

"Our market leading product support and rental service capabilities enable us to deliver world-class energy solutions to our customers, and we look forward to continuing our long-standing relationship with APR Energy," said Randy Ringhaver, president of Ring Power.

Key Cat products for APR will include the XQ2000 and XQ1475G power modules, designed specifically for the international power projects market. The new version of the XQ2000 power module uses the 3516B engine, and can run at both 50 and 60 Hz.

It is still unclear how the Cat-APR deal will impact on Energyst, the European-based power rental company co-owned by more than eight Caterpillar dealers. Although focused on Europe, Energyst has in recent years started to target the international power projects sector and had won contracts in Chile and Argentina.

The spokesman for APR said its agreement with Cat would be focused on emerging markets and not on small scale ‘local' rental contracts.