Gas Turbine Efficiency - overcoming your power problems

NEWSIn brief...Big wind for ScotlandFluor Limited, and SSE(Scottish and SouthernEnergy plc), have beenawarded exclusive rightsby The Crown Estate todevelop the Round 3 offshorewind farm zone inthe Firth of Forth, off thecoast of Scotland.The proposed zone is 22kilometres from the Eastcoast of Scotland, andcovers an area of 2,852square kilometres in theouter Firth of Forth. Thezone has a potentialinstalled capacity of up to3.4 gigawatts which wouldalmost double Scotland'sentire existing renewablescapacity.New Houston basefor APGAllied Power Group hasopened its new Houstonfacility, a 70,000 sq.ft. HQto handle sales, repairsand warehousing in onelocation. Allied's productline now includesWestinghouse 501F and GEFrame 7FA+e turbines forparts & repair. See p.18.Biofuel deal by BABritish Airways has strucka deal to build the firstplant in Europe toproduce jet fuel fromwaste matter. Some500,000 tonnes of wastewill be used by a UKfacility each year toproduce 16 million gallonsof fuel. Construction ofthe plant in east Londonwill start within twoyears. It is set to producefuel from 2014, creatingup to 1,200 jobs. Thewaste is fed into a hightemperature ‘gasifier’ toproduce BioSynGas.Waste products from theprocess can be used topower the plant as well assupply 20MW of electricityto the national grid.Energetix signs with US GridEnergetix Group plc, a group ofcompanies with three cost-effectiveproducts (Pnu Power, Genlec andVPhase) to meet the growing demandfor alternative energy, hasannounced a new deal with theNational Grid US.Through its US associate companyEnergetix Technologies Inc., the newcontract from National Grid US willinvolve testing its compressed-airbackup power system for utilityswitching applications.According to Energetix the successfuloperation of the trial unit will leadto full deployment of Pnu Power atanother National Grid US site.The first Pnu Power unit will beinstalled on a trial basis at a NationalGrid electricity substation in RhodeIsland.The company believes that the trial will prove thesystem's suitability for use in substations and otherapplications where lead-acid batteries and chargersare conventionally used.It also anticipates that the system will result insignificant savings for the National Grid US in termsof both installation and operating costs. NationalGrid US delivers electricity to approximately 3.3million customers in the US, in New York,Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.It is part of National Grid plc, which is alreadytesting a Pnu Power unit at an electricitysub-station in Cheshire UK.Biogas plant making power for CzechsThere’s currently a boom in theCzech republic for renewableenergies involved with powerproduction. One of those workingin the region is the biogas plantmanufacturer, WELtec BioPowerGmbH, which has built more than200 biogas plants, with exportsaccounting for more than 20%. In2009, WELtec BioPower receivedWELtec BioPower plant.WPnu Power system installation.an order for a biogas plant inLiberec, Northern Bohemia,where the chosen feedstock wasmaize, manure, and grass silage.The €1.2-million plant, which hasbeen operational for just eightweeks, features two fermentersof about 88,000 cubic feet eachand two final storage units with avolume of 141,000 cubic feet.At the combinedheat and powerplant, a 536-kWgas-enginegen-set nowproducess greenenergy sufficientto meet the fullequivalentneeds of 1,000three-personhouseholds.Both the EU andthe Czechgovernment currently providespecial investment incentives forall biogas plant projects in theCzech Republic.As the per-capita carbon-dioxideemissions in the Czech Republicfeature high on the agenda, thereis a compelling need for areduction in CO2 emissions. Inline with the EU climateprotection goals, the governmentintends to generate 10% of theenergy from alternative sourcesby mid-2010.Back in early 2008, this ratio wasonly about 4% for the CzechRepublic. However, the Europeanfund now offers €5 billion forenvironmental projects until2013. Moreover, the EuropeanAgricultural Fund for RuralDevelopment backs a relatedrural development programme forfuel stuffs.6MARCH 2010 • WORLDWIDE I NDEPENDENT P OWER