In the United States (US), Capstone Turbine Corporation, a leading clean technology manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, has recently announced that it received an order for a three-bay, 400 kW C400 Signature Series (C400S) microturbine based energy system to modernize a Water Pollution Facility (WPF) in upstate New York. It will be utilized in a combined heat and power (CHP) application and will run on biogas, produced on-site from municipal organic waste (MOW).
A recent study by the Energy Infirmation Administration (EIA) found that renewables will be the fastest-growing source of electricity generation through 2050 because of continuing declines in capital costs and the introduction of higher state-level renewable energy targets. The renewable energy sector is poised to enter a new growth phase as utilities and regulators plan to replace retiring capacity, and customers increasingly choose renewable sources to save costs and address climate change concerns.
The biogas market continues to expand globally as countries endeavor to reduce their dependence on fossil fuel sources for power generation. Reduced dependence on fossil fuels, along with the introduction of innovative financial instruments, and government incentives are driving an increased shift to sustainable biogas to energy projects, said Darren Jamison, Capstone Turbine President, and CEO.
GEM Energy, Capstone’s historical distribution partner in Ohio (OH), Michigan (MI) and upstate New York (NY), secured the order for the biogas-fueled C400S microturbine, which is expected to be commissioned by the summer of 2021.
Enable future expansion
Starting in 2018, the New York WPF worked with GEM Energy, to develop a solution to modernize their aging water treatment facility with the goal of generating on-site power to meet the demands of a population that had outgrown the facility’s capacity.
The new microturbine CHP plant will incorporate new digesters, advanced gas treatment, and heat exchangers for heating the digesters. The biogas-powered microturbine system will generate electricity for the facility with recovered heat being utilized to sustain the digester process.
The three-bay enclosure will provide a long-term scalable solution that allows for an additional 200 kW expansion to support increasing future site loads.
GEM Energy continues to see significant demand in the wastewater treatment industry to generate clean, efficient power utilizing renewable biogas. We look forward to helping the city reduce emissions while providing reliable heat and electricity for critical plant operations. The custom C400S was designed to leverage the versatility and reliability of Capstone microturbines to meet the needs of the city’s current digester project with additional capacity for future expansion, stated Nick Hammond, Director of Distributed Generation at GEM Energy.
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are excellent candidates for microturbine-based CHP. The most common renewables projects make use of digester methane to generate electric power or combined heat and power. These installations can bring fast payback from utility power and natural gas savings by utilizing waste methane, a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2).
In addition, excess renewable electricity could be offered for sale to the electric utility.
