GE Energy announced today that it will be one of the primary power providers at the opening ceremonies of the 2009 International Ski Federation (FIS) Nordic World Ski Championships in the Czech Republic. The event’s opening ceremonies will take place in Liberec’s Tipsport Arena, a facility that will showcase the world's top Nordic athletes and at the same time support the European Union’s goals to expand the region’s use of cogeneration to improve local energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The selection of GE Energy highlights the country's commitment to increase national energy effectiveness by 2.6% annually through highly efficient and low-emission power generation technologies.
The Liberec plant, which was installed as part of a major reconstruction of the Tipsport Arena in 2004–2005, is an advanced combined heat and power (CHP) plant containing two GE JMS 208 Jenbacher engines. Approximately 84% of the electricity produced and 71% of the thermal power produced at the site supports the requirements of the Tipsport Arena. The plant contributes to the arena’s onsite heating, power and cooling requirements. Any surplus power is delivered to the local electricity grid or heat-distribution network, supplying the local area and providing a reserve source of energy in the event of a shortage.
“I am pleased that Tipsport Arena was selected as the location for the opening,” remarked Jirí Lenkvík, director of Warmnis, the company responsible for implementation and operation of the plant. “It's an opportunity for us to present the efficiency of our energy-saving GE’s Jenbacher units, which we have been using for five years to our utmost satisfaction and we believe they will continue to serve us well in the future. That’s why we also chose a GE Energy Jenbacher plant for the sports arena in Ceské Lípa.”
The two GE Jenbacher cogeneration units have operated at the arena since late 2004 and together will have surpassed the 60,000 operating hours milestone as of February 2009. The plant has produced 16,170MWh of electricity and almost 21,700MWh of heat, which would be enough to heat about 2,200 average EU households for one year. Cogeneration is a much more energy efficient solution than relying on separate sources, achieving significant primary energy savings compared to separate power and heat equipment. As a result, these systems produce overall lower levels of GHG emissions during the generation process.
In addition to natural gas, GE’s Jenbacher engines can also run on various gases, including biogas in particular, as is the case in another Czech project in Knežice, where renewable biogas from agricultural waste is used to supply heat and electricity.
GE Energy’s Jenbacher gas engine business has been operating in the Czech Republic since 1992, supplying more than 60 Jenbacher CHP units throughout the country via its authorised local distributor Klor.
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