Press Release – 5 January 2023

In the framework of Germany’s assistance to Ukraine, SOKRATHERM GmbH (a member of B.KWK – the German CHP Association, which is a member of COGEN Europe) has won a contract to provide 5 mobile cogeneration units to the city of Kharkiv. The first two mobile GG 70 VR compact CHP units have already arrived in Kharkiv and three more will follow in February. Powered by natural gas, each unit produces 71 kW electricity together with 116 kW heat, reaching a total energy efficiency of 93%.

(The information below was provided to COGEN Europe by SOKRATHERM GmbH)

Due to Russia’s massive and deliberate attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure there is a significant need for electricity and heat generation capacity in the country. The city of Kharkiv is particularly affected by this because of its importance as Ukraine’s second largest city and its geographical proximity to the Russian border (approx. 30 km).

In autumn 2022, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) awarded SOKRATHERM GmbH with a contract to deliver 5 mobile combined heat and power (CHP) units to Kharkiv. Since the construction and installation of the first mobile CHP unit in Hiddenhausen in 1995, SOKRATHERM is considered the inventor of this type of cogeneration unit. It is a CHP unit mounted with all its accessories on a trailer and therefore can generate heat and power at different locations. The company not only had lots of experience and reference projects with the extremely efficient and reliable “mobile CHP” units, but was also able to realise particularly short delivery times in order to provide the necessary support this winter.

Photo: SOKRATHERM GmbH

“We are happy and proud to have won this contract. This way we can make a meaningful contribution with our cogeneration units to help the people in Ukraine and alleviate the suffering,” comments Joachim Voigt, sales manager at SOKRATHERM.

The first two mobile GG 70 VR compact CHP units have already arrived in Kharkiv and three more will follow in February. They are fitted for grid-parallel and island operation, which means they can operate in parallel with the grid as well as supply the most important power consumers take of the emergency power line in the event of a grid failure. Unlike pure electricity generators, CHP units also make the heat generated during electricity production available for heating. The delivered CHP unit type GG 70 VR produces not only 71 kW electricity but also 116 kW heat and reaches a total efficiency of 93%.

Mobile CHP units can be deployed wherever the energy is most urgently needed. Moving between two locations, including connection work, takes only a few hours. These locations will probably be hospitals, administrative buildings, residential areas as well as educational and nursing facilities. The operational management of the systems will be taken over by the regional energy supplier whose staff will receive the know-how necessary for commissioning and maintenance directly from the manufacturer in online support and training.

In the hopefully near future, when the current emergency situation is overcome, the CHP units can of course also be used stationary for the highly efficient supply of electricity and heat to buildings. In long run they can also be used for the same kinds of tasks as they would be used for in Germany, for example to supply an open-air swimming pool in summer and a school during the winter.

The GG 70 VR compact CHP unit is fully mobile and can quickly be moved to a new location (Photo: SOKRATHERM GmbH)

Press contact: Wilhelm Meinhold

In the occasion of the 29th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, a new project paper was released, gathering data and updates on:

• Biomass characterization
• Gasification, Hot gas cleaning and conditioning and SOFC tests
• Lab simulations
• Pilot plant realization

The full text of the paper can be downloaded here

Activities of the last 24 months

Biomass feedstock analysis, screening 10 samples and 5 mixtures of representative biomass wastes, and then by further testing two of the most relevant biomass wastes evaluated [check the deliverable];

Gasification tests, utilising primary sorbents to reduce sulphur and chlorine bearing compounds;

Literature review to select bio-syngas representative organic and inorganic contaminants for button cell and short-stack SOFC tests.

Tar catalyst tests in order to select the catalysts to be applied within the filter candles and the secondary tar reformer;

Sorbents tests, to select the material to be applied in the secondary sulphur and chlorine reactors;

Button cells (ENEA) and short stacks (EPFL) tests in order to understand SOFC performance (e.g. syngas behaviour and tar, sulfur and chlorine tolerance)

Overall plant simulations and final pilot plant design;

Pilot plant realization, achieving pilot plant gasification with a hydrogen content stable over 30%/v

More info on BAZE project website

Deadline to apply – 30 June 2021

Energy is vital to the functioning of our societies. We need solutions that make it possible to combine sound economic growth with little environmental impact and customer convenience. District Energy is the key to sustainability. Its infrastructure enables significant carbon footprint reductions by allowing cities to harvest the potential of renewable energies and surplus heat that would otherwise go to waste!

The 7th edition of the Global District Energy Climate Awards (#21GDECA) is now receiving applications.

Press HERE or follow the link below to begin the award application. For further information please:
•  View the different Awards Categories
•  View the Awards Application Procedure
•  View the Submission details
•  View former Winners

Link for application: https://www.cvent.com/d/k7q84z
Where:  The 7th Global District Energy Climate Awards Ceremony, will be hosted by APUEA, The Asian Pacific Urban Energy Association – on Thursday, 11 November 2021 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Website:  www.districtenergyaward.org
Social Media handle: #21GDECA
Contacts: Euroheat & Power Pauline Benoit events@euroheat.org

EM-Power Europe
Munich, June 9–11, 2021

Munich/Pforzheim, January 26, 2021 – Our energy supply needs to become flexible, clean and cost-effective. This requires the coupling of the electricity, heat and transportation sectors. Sustainable combined heat and power (CHP) – or cogeneration – is a key component of sector coupling and, in addition to other renewable systems, enables a clean and modern energy supply. With efficiency levels exceeding 90 percent and flexible applications for decentralized electricity and heat generation, it also serves to make the power grid more stable. In a recent episode of The smarter E podcast, Hans Korteweg, Managing Director of COGEN Europe – the European Association for the Promotion of Cogeneration – provides exciting insights into how this technology works. At the international energy exhibition EM-Power Europe, set to take place in Munich from June 9 to 11, 2021, the major players of the new energy world will present sustainable technologies such as cogeneration, integrated energy solutions and innovations in smart energy management.

Cogeneration refers to the combined generation of heat and power (CHP). With CHP, generation occurs close to the site of consumption, easing the burden on the power grids. Its high flexibility also ensures stable power generation, even when there is no wind or the sun is not shining. In contrast to conventional centralized and fossil-fueled steam power stations, production from CHP plants can be easily capped or the plants can be shut down entirely, if necessary. So, CHP technology fits perfectly in the existing infrastructure of electricity, heat and gas grids. Thanks to their flexibility and their optimal use of renewable energy, for instance in the form of biomethane, hydrogen or other synthetic fuels, CHP plants are well-suited to cover residual loads in the power grid. All of these factors make CHP plants an important element of the energy supply of the future and an ideal member of the renewable energy technology family.

Cost-effective and efficient with low emissions
COGEN Europe promotes the expansion of CHP across Europe. The association, an official partner of EM-Power Europe starting in 2021, advocates sector coupling and considers CHP to be the backbone of the future European energy system – carbon neutral, decentralized and resilient. “CHP has the potential to bring together the electricity, heat and gas grids. It efficiently integrates renewable energy and its use for decarbonized energy supply. CHP thus brings more reliability and flexibility to the energy system by being able to generate heat and electricity at all times. The combined generation of electricity and heat is more cost-effective, more efficient and also leads to lower emissions,” says CEO Hans Korteweg. As of January 14, 2021, the latest episode of The smarter E Podcast with Hans Korteweg is online and can be accessed here.

Using green hydrogen to store energy
CHP must be viewed in combination with renewable energies in sector-coupled, integrated solutions. Its potential can be seen in Power-to-Fuel technology, where excess renewable energy is converted to hydrogen or another type of synthetic fuel. This technology allows energy to be stored and transported cost-effectively. “With the stored fuel, thermal CHP plants produce electricity on days without wind or sunshine. These plants ensure stability by feeding additional electricity into the grid when needed. Thanks to Power-to-X technology, CHP plants will play an important role in the energy supply of the future,” explains Jan Andersson, Market Development Manager of the Finnish company Wärtsilä, which will be featured as an exhibitor at EM-Power Europe for the first time in 2021. As one of the leading energy system integrators, Wärtsilä has been commissioned to install numerous CHP plants in Germany, including the new CHP plant for the municipal utility company Kraftwerke Mainz-Wiesbaden (KMW), which has an output of more than 100 megawatts (MW).  Wärtsilä’s gas motors make up the central element of the power plant. Once it is taken into operation, the CHP plant will serve as a reliable source of power for around 40,000 households in the Mainz-Wiesbaden region, outputting 100 MW of electrical power and around 90 MW of thermal power.

Virtual power plants play an important part in providing control reserve from renewable energies such as biogas, Power-to-X and CHP plants, as Cologne’s Next Kraftwerke goes to show. “For example, CHP plants can help balance out fluctuations caused by volatile renewable energy by feeding power into the grid, producing either more or less electrical energy at short notice. To this end, we provide local forecasts of the generation of energy from renewable sources and the utilization level of the natural gas grid. Together with the operators, we then sell the flexibility offered by CHP plants on the electricity balancing market for a profit,” says Jochen Schwill, founder and CEO of Next Kraftwerke. Another exhibitor at the 2021 EM-Power Europe, Next Kraftwerke claims to operate one of the largest virtual power plants in the world with about 10,000 decentralized renewable generating plants, storage units and industrial consumers. In total, the virtual power plant has an aggregated output of over 8,500 MW.

CHP is hydrogen-ready
The key technologies for electrification and renewable energy production are consistently becoming more cost-effective and enable a transformation of our power supply towards a decentralized structure. This development is a much stronger driver for the decarbonization of the energy system than the time-consuming expansion of large infrastructures. CHP plants are increasingly being fueled by green hydrogen, and comprehensive sector coupling is being used to supply districts as climate-neutrally as possible. CHP is hydrogen-ready according to the latest reports from the Bundesverband Kraft-Wärme-Kopplung (B.KWK), Germany’s federal association for CHP systems. Operating plants with mixed gas containing a ten-percent hydrogen admixture is no problem for modern CHP plants. Pure hydrogen can be used in fuel cells and there are already some CHP plants which can run on 100 percent hydrogen.

Heat and electricity for domestic and district-wide use
More and more municipal utilities are turning to CHP for decentralized, more carbon-neutral heat and electricity generation to supply entire districts. The municipal utilities in the Bavarian town of Haßfurt are a prime example of how this works. In addition to PV and wind power, these utilities use an electrolyzer with 1.2 MW of electrical output to produce hydrogen. Specifically, excess wind energy is converted into combustible hydrogen gas via proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis and is then fed into the local gas grid (five percent admixture) and sold all across Germany as ProWindgas (natural gas-wind gas-biogas mixture). A hydrogen-fueled CHP plant with an electrical output of up to 200 kilowatts (kW) can reconvert the hydrogen into electricity.

EM-Power Europe 2021
CHP technology is a prerequisite for Europe to become carbon-neutral by 2050. This technology will share the spotlight at EM-Power Europe with general sector coupling for buildings and districts as well as the efficient distribution and use of electricity and heat generated from renewable sources of energy. Exhibitors at the international exhibition for energy management and integrated energy solutions will be presenting their technological solutions and services for a future-oriented energy supply. The energy exhibition is part of the innovation hub The smarter E Europe, which stands for decentralization, digitalization and sector coupling and campaigns for the promising, sustainable supply of energy from renewable sources.

EM-Power Europe and the parallel events Intersolar Europe, ees Europe and Power2Drive Europe will all take place from June 9 to 11, 2021, as part of the innovation hub The smarter E Europe at Messe München.

For more information, please visit:
www.em-power.eu
www.TheSmarterE.de

EM-Power Europe
EM-Power Europe is the international exhibition for energy management and integrated energy solutions. It focuses on the efficient distribution and use of electricity and heat generated from renewable sources of energy, smart energy management, and sector coupling in buildings and districts. Other key topics are smart grids and microgrids, grid infrastructure, energy services and operator models. EM-Power Europe delivers the ideal technological solutions and services and showcases ways to achieve a decentralized, sustainable, carbon-neutral and future-oriented renewable energy supply.

EM-Power Europe is geared toward professional energy customers and prosumers working in the commercial, industrial and real estate sectors, energy managers, planners and consultants as well as public and private utility companies and municipalities.

In 2021, EM-Power Europe will take place in parallel to Intersolar Europe, the world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry, as well as ees Europe, the continent’s largest and most international exhibition for batteries and energy storage systems, and Power2Drive Europe, the international exhibition for charging infrastructure and e-mobility. All four exhibitions are held at The smarter E Europe – the innovation hub for new energy solutions – and showcase ideas and technologies for a carbon-neutral energy future.

For more information on EM-Power Europe, please visit: www.EM-Power.eu
EM-Power Europe is organized by Solar Promotion GmbH, Pforzheim and Freiburg Wirtschaft Touristik und Messe GmbH & Co. KG (FWTM).

Contact:
Solar Promotion GmbH | P.O. Box 100 170 | 75101 Pforzheim, Germany
Barbara Pilz | Tel.: +49 7231 58598-214 | Fax: +49 7231 58598-28
pilz@solarpromotion.com

Press contact:
fischerAppelt, relations | Otl-Aicher-Str. 64 | 80807 Munich, Germany
Robert Schwarzenböck | Tel. +49 89 747466-23 | Fax +49 89 747466-66
robert.schwarzenboeck@fischerappelt.de

A view from Japan

Cogeneration systems generate power and heat on-site. They provide energy/non-energy benefits in terms of economics, environment, disaster prevention, urban development and regional revitalization. Such value can contribute to attain sustainable world and to help private companies, national/local governments and communities to undertake UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

ACEJ releases the documents which describe the various values of the cogeneration system and the achievement of the SDGs below.

Discover in more details how cogeneration contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals in this ACEJ REPORT and its SUMMARY.

A new EU research project will design a novel small-scale cogeneration engine using biomass to produce heat and electricity, which could mainstream renewables in the heating and cooling sector. The project, called SmartCHP, has been launched today in June by ten partners, under the coordination of BTG Biomass Technology Group.

The engine will be designed to have high flexibility, meaning that it can easily operate with different loads and produce more electricity or more heat as demand changes. As the SmartCHP system is hybrid, it can also be integrated with variable renewables, such as wind and solar.

Read the full Press Release.

On Tuesday 18 June, we organised the Energy Day “Fuel Cells and Hydrogen in Buildings: Integrating Electricity, Heat and Gas for a Decarbonised Future Energy System” during the EU Sustainable Energy Week. We invited speakers from the European heating industry, stakeholders and European institutions. We summarised for you the main take-aways from the Energy Day:

– Buildings is critical for the decarbonisation of the entire economy. Moving away from silo thinking and towards an integrated approach will ensure that citizens are active participants to the energy transition. All speakers agreed that maximising decarbonisation measures and energy solutions across electricity, gas and heat, will ensure a customer-centric approach to delivering a carbon neutral energy system. In this respect EHI pointed out that a mix of different solutions will be needed to tackle decarbonisation in the building sector and beyond, with a focus on smart buildings and consumer engagement. The European Commission also supports a comprehensive approach to decarbonisation, recognising the increasing citizen engagement and momentum for climate action across the entire economy.

– “Energy efficiency first” should be applied ambitiously across demand and generation of energy in buildings. EuroACE stressed the need for policy-driven building renovation to be complemented by a broad range of efficient and renewable energy solutions.

– While hydrogen is now part of the decarbonisation debate, its use in buildings and the roll out of stationary fuel cells (or fuel cell micro-cogeneration) is not getting sufficient visibility. Stationary fuel cells (or fuel cell micro-cogeneration) have an important potential to decarbonise the building sector today and in the future, a true no-regrets solution. They provide comfort to consumers, lower their energy bills and improve their environmental footprint already today, as they are moving from early market adoption to mass commercialisation. With the increasing uptake of renewable gases and hydrogen, the environmental benefits will only increase in the future. Moreover, fuel cells bring additional value in terms of flexibility and demand response to the energy system as a whole.

– Key industry players (incl. SOLIDpower, Thüga and Viessmann) highlighted the positive developments achieved by the stationary fuel cell micro-cogeneration sector. With more than 10.000 sold to date and key projects initiated around Europe, the industry is now heavily investing in mass commercialisation. According to the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Undertaking, planned investment in fuel cell heat & power generation by European manufacturers is estimated at more than EUR 250 mil between 2015-2019. SOLIDpower is currently investing ~ EUR 30 mil in an industrial scale production facility, matching EU funding. Viessmann has installed more than 4500 units across Europe and further growth is expected.

– Meanwhile EU and national projects like PACE, Comsos and KfW433 help bridge the gap between early market adoption and mass commercialisation. Moreover, key regions are coming on board as they become more aware of fuel cell & hydrogen benefits. Dedicated regional projects in Bavaria and Scotland aim to identify and address some of the barriers to large scale uptake of fuel cells and hydrogen. The representative from Thüga/CEDEC presented a 60 family housing development project with fuel cells in Langweid, with a special focus on building professionals.

– Challenges still remain in terms of customer awareness, building professionals skills and financing. To address these challenges, a combination of policy, financing and industry initiatives will be needed to bring innovative solutions closer to consumers. The EuroPACE project aims to address some of the financing barriers identified for the building sector, ensuring aggregation of small projects, offering technical assistance and bringing all relevant actors together.

Check the programme of the Energy Day and presentations:

Programme and more information

Presentation by Alix Chambris, Viessmann

Presentation by Olivier Bucheli, SOLIDpower

Presentation by Eva Henning, Thüga/CEDEC

Presentation by Kristina Klimovich, EuroPACE

Presentation by Nigel Holmes, Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association

The Research Center for Energy Economics (FfE), today published a study on the Primary Energy Factor (PEF) for electricity and the corresponding CO₂ Equivalent Emission Factor (CEEF) applicable to technologies coupling heat and electricity sectors. Read the study in its entirety.

Background

The European Union is building the European Energy Union /EC-01 15/ to ensure that Europe is supplied by secure, affordable and climate-friendly energy. In this context, energy efficiency and reduction of CO2-emissions are prioritised at the EU level as key to realise EU’s energy and climate objectives /EC-02 18/. Correctly measuring efficiency gains and CO2 emission reductions is indispensable to reach the Energy Union objectives and will play an important role in ensuring a level playing field that fairly recognises contributions of all energy solutions accurately. As Europe’s energy transition currently brings especially renewable electricity into the energy supply system, electricity is expected to play a great role in helping different sectors decrease their CO2 emissions.

While security of energy supply and energy costs remain a concern, accurately assessing the environmental impacts of technologies in the energy system is essential to ensure a sound and proportionate EU energy and climate change regulatory framework. The Primary Energy Factor (PEF) for electricity is one of the instruments used by policymakers to assess the efficiency of the electricity. The need for science-based and fit-for-purpose energy efficiency and carbon reduction policies is becoming increasingly relevant to allow a cost-effective energy transition, e.g. for sectors subject to electrification such as the transport sector and heat sector.

Key findings

• The electricity mix displaced by additional generation or used to cover additional electricity demand differs from the yearly average. A “marginal” approach, which more realistically reflects the composition of relevant electricity generation units, more accurately estimates the PEF and CEEF of this specific electricity mixes.
• An average PEF, as proposed by the European Commission in the ongoing Energy Efficiency Directive review, and specific CEEF based on a yearly average electricity generation mix, are not suitable for evaluating the efficiency or carbon intensity of additionally produced or consumed electricity. Using an average approach will overestimate the renewable electricity in the displacement respectively consumption mix. Meanwhile, the marginal approach will more accurately estimate the environmental impact on the electricity system due to additional generation and consumption, signalling more adequately to both policymakers and consumers the environmental impacts of appliances generating or using or this electricity.
• The marginal PEF for the displacement mix excluding the upstream chain, excluding nuclear power plants and including grid losses of 5 % is 2.81 in the EU-28. At national level, the corresponding displacement mix PEFs range from 2.3 to 3.75. Including conversion factors from lower to higher heating value into the calculation, increases the average PEF to 3.26 including nuclear energy and 2.99 excluding nuclear energy.
• The marginal CEEF for the displacement mix is determined including the upstream chain and including grid losses of 5 %. Excluding nuclear power plants this results in a CEEF 986 gCO2/kWhel.
• A separate analysis was carried out on the potential implications of including nuclear power plants, under the assumption that in some countries nuclear power plants may not act as must-run. Including nuclear power plants in the displacement mix results in a higher EU PEF (of 3.17) and a lower EU CEEF (446 gCO2/kWhel)
• Depending on the calculation method used, the PEF for electricity will be impacted differently by an increasing share of renewable electricity. While the PEF of the average generation mix will decrease at a rate reflecting the increase in renewable electricity generation, the decrease of the marginal PEF will be more gradual than the increasing share of renewable electricity. This is because most of the times the residual load (the difference between electricity demand and the supply of wind and sun electricity) in most countries is still positive in the short term. In the medium to long term the development highly depends on the increase in renewable energy
Background and Motivation 5
capacity and the employed load management of additional electricity generation and consumption units.
• The use of PEF and CEEF in climate and energy policymaking is complementary. Both the PEF and CEEF are needed to assess the two-dimensional characteristics in environmental impact (energy savings and reduction of CO2 emissions). PEF and CEER should be determined correctly and include impacts on the energy system transparently. It may be up to the policymaker to favour one of these factors, depending on the priorities at a certain time. Even in an energy system 100 % free of fossil fuels, the PEF is still needed to improve the overall system efficiency, while the CEEF may lose its relevance.

Steel powers the economy of Brescia, Italy. And now, one local steelmaker is also powering homes in the northern Italian city of 200,000. ORI Martin, a maker of automotive steel, recycles the immense heat that’s a byproduct of steelmaking and, rather than releasing the waste heat into the air, recycles it to generate electricity for and to heat nearby homes.

ORI Martin partnered with Turboden, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, to produce a specially designed unit for the steelmaker’s main Brescia factory. They also collaborated with Tenova, which specializes in solutions for the metals and mining sectors, and A2A, the utilities company serving Brescia and Milan.

The system, which has been operating since March 2016, grabs the heat from the steelmaking process as it goes up a flue and produces steam used as heat carrier. The steam in turn passes through Turboden’s Organic Rankine Cycle system, or ORC, transferring the heat to an organic fluid, to create 1.8 megawatts of clean electricity (that can potentially reach 2.2 MWe) in summer—the equivalent to the needs of 700 families. In winter, the steam goes to heat exchangers that join Brescia’s district heating grid to warm 2,000 homes. Not only are the heat and electricity cheaper than that from conventional sources, but they’re completely clean and help the city’s own power station to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Main goal: to cut emissions

In fact, a cleaner environment was the key impetus behind the project. “The mission of the project was not an energy-bill reduction, but a more efficient cooperation between the local municipality and local industry to obtain a global CO2 reduction,” said Giovanni Marinoni, Vice President of ORI Martin. “The heat provided by ORI Martin reduces the need of fossil fuel in the local heat generator and this is converted into a cost saving for them.”

The collaboration between Turboden and ORI Martin is expected to cut total carbon dioxide emissions in the city by 10,000 metric tons a year. According to some estimates, around 25 percent of global greenhouse gases are emitted from producing electricity, while 67 percent of power generation uses fossil fuels.

Industries as a whole have recognized this. The market for waste heat recovery systems is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of 6.9% to 2021, when it may be worth almost $66 billion, according to recent research by MarketsandMarkets. Industrial heat waste can account for as much as half the energy produced during a factory operation, according to University of Calgary research.

“The unexploited waste heat streams are useful sources for energy efficiency technologies, such as Organic Rankine Cycle,” said Paolo Bertuzzi, chief executive of Turboden. “These unexploited heat streams are produced by industrial processes, like cement, glass, steel, ferroalloy, non-ferrous metals, silicon metal, carbon black, and others. Besides the production processes, the waste heat can be found in combined cycles, where our technology is coupled with gas turbines, reciprocating engines, and fuel cells.”

Growing popularity

Projects like Brescia’s are gaining ground in Europe. Denmark gets half its electricity from recycled heat, Finland 39 percent, and Russia 31 percent, according to a Popular Science report. This has cut global carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent.

“It’s free energy, essentially,” Brendan Owens, vice president of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LEED) at the U.S. Green Building Council, said in a recent report.

The European Union wants to put more of that free energy to use. The EU’s Pitagoras project focuses on integrating cities with industrial parks through smart thermal grids. This includes technologies for waste heat recovery and renewable energy sources to supply heat and power to cities.

Turboden technology dovetails into the Pitagoras initiative, especially as the EU expects that its cities will account for 75 percent of primary energy consumption by 2030. Waste heat recovery is essential to improving the energy efficiency of those cities. The Turboden project in Brescia is a pilot to demonstrate to other European cities the benefits of turning industrial heat into electricity and domestic heating.

Many potential applications

The ORI Martin project may be a pilot, but Turboden has decades of experience with ORC technology. Turboden started in 1980 with a small, 100-kilowatt ORC plant. “We never imagined that 35 years later, we’d be installing a single 17-megawatt electricity turbine,” said the company’s founder, Professor Mario Gaia.

Having pioneered its technology in Europe, Turboden is now using its position as part of the global network of MHI Group to look at projects farther afield. This includes a glass production facility in India and other potential contracts in Turkey, Africa and East Asia. Already it has built or is building 33 ORC plants that can produce a combined 74.9 megawatts electrical.

“The potentials are in all the countries where energy-intensive industries exist and where these industries still need to recover the excess heat,” Turboden’s Mr. Bertuzzi said. With ORC, industries can recycle energy that would otherwise disappear into thin air.

Right now three different techniques for small-scale biomass-based cogeneration (gasifier, wet steam turbine and Organic Rancine Cycle (ORC)) are being built and demonstrated in southeast Sweden as part of the project Small Scale CHP LIFE+ (2014-2019), financed by the EU Life+ programme and partly by the Swedish Energy Agency.

The demonstration project Small Scale CHP Life+

The aim is:
•    Demonstrate three technologies
•    Create a platform for small scale CHP by arranging study visits
•    Increase the use of small scale CHPs
•    Disseminate the experiences from running the technologies
•    Increase local and renewable electricity generation and thereby decrease CO2 emissions

Emåmejeriet (Emå Dairy) is a local producer of milk and dairy products in Hultsfred.  They have installed a gasification plant where the wood is converted into heat (100kW) and electricity (40kW). The process also generates biochar (500 l/week).

Ronneby Miljö & Teknik AB is a local energy company which supply service within heat, sanitary and water. They have installed a wet steam turbine at a district heating plant. The turbine will generate 500 kW electricty which will be sold to the electricty grid.

Ronneby Miljö &Teknik AB have also installed an ORC turbine, 50kW electricty, that generates electricty for a district heating plant in the village of BräkeHoby.

Main results and experiences gained so far

The gasifier at Emå dairy was the first plant to be installed in October 2015. Next up was the ORC beginning demonstration in 2017, which has so far generated 104.5 MWh electricity. The wet steam turbine will be up running on full load in april 2018. The electricity efficiency varies from 3% to 38% depending on technology. The price of electricity, investment costs and the tax limit for electricity generation are parameters higly affecting the profitability. The interest for small scale CHP is increasing in Sweden. More than 500 people have sofar visit the plants.

Why not make a study visit and learn about their experiences?

If you are planning a visit to Sweden, why not take the opportunity to learn more about small scale combined heat and power production by visiting Emå Dairy or Ronneby Miljöteknik?
The plants are open for study visits for anyone who wishes to know more about small scale production of heat and power.

To book a study visit and read more about the project, visit the website: http://www.energikontorsydost.se/smaskalig-kraftvarme-life-study-visit