GE has announced that it has agreed on an important milestone of a three-year, $50m project with Gruppo, a European combined heat and power (CHP) project developer, to supply an innovative combination of GE's Jenbacher gas engines and Clean Cycle™ waste-heat recovery modules for agricultural biogas projects throughout Europe.
"The acquisition of waste-heat recovery technology from Calnetix Power Solutions enabled GE to work together with great companies like Gruppo AB to provide innovative solutions for customers, helping to meet increased demand for power and efficiency, while at the same time meeting increasingly rigorous environmental regulations," said Rafael Santana, president and CEO, Gas Engines for GE Energy.
The project marks the largest deal for a packaged solution featuring GE's Jenbacher biogas engines and the Clean Cycle technology since acquiring the waste-heat technology from Calnetix Power Solutions in 2010. More and more agricultural facilities seek to install modern CHP systems to support the European Union's 20/20/20 initiative to generate 20% of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.
"Combined heat and power (CHP) is our core business and our long relationship with GE is important to our success. The combination of GE's innovative and reliable Jenbacher gas engines and Clean Cycle waste-heat recovery modules provides us with the advanced technology and expertise to offer our agricultural customers specifically, but in general for all biogas applications, the advanced solution to meet their needs while reducing the impact on the environment. That is a win for everyone," said Angelo Baronchelli, founder of Gruppo.
For the agricultural CHP (or 'cogeneration') project, Gruppo will combine the Clean Cycle modules with Jenbacher gas engines, with each package able to generate up to 999kW of electrical power and 402kW in thermal power. The output of the integrated system was intentionally kept under 1MW because the highest feed-in tariffs in Italy are for power projects that produce less than 1MW. This allows agricultural groups using the packaged solution to make the most use of the tariffs.
Combining GE's Jenbacher gas engines with GE's 125kW Clean Cycle waste-heat recovery solution provides a powerful package that results in up to a 10% increase in electrical output and up to a 10% reduction in the biomass required for biogas CHP. The new package also achieves a lower NOx level of 450mg/Nm3 and CO of 500mg/Nm3. The primary source of fuel for the new package is biogas, out of pig and cow manure, corn and other crops. Increasing the energy efficiency of biogas projects helps make biogas power projects more cost-effective. The Clean Cycle system converts excess heat into additional electricity. The electricity generated from the package can be utilized for treatment plants and supplied to the public power grid.
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