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In brief...
Gazprom buys Envacom
Gazprom - the Russian state
gas corporation - has
bought German electricity
utility Envacom. Jonathan
Feingold, director of
Gazprom Energy says the
company wants to be a
major player in the German
power market. Envacom's
retail market business will
be changed to Gazprom
Energy to demonstrate the
change of ownership.
10
NEWS
N OVEMBER 2011 • WORLDWIDE I NDEPENDENT P OWER
GE Jenbacher engines
bought for pyrogasification
plant in Turin, Italy
Two Jenbacher J316 engines from GE have
been bought by the Villanova Mondovi pyrogasification
plant near Turin, Italy. GE
reports that the technology deployed for
the Villanova Mondovi plant, which turns
waste wood into energy, evolved from a
similar gasifier project in Grossenkneten,
Germany.
The German plant was co-financed by the
region of Lower Saxony, which produces the
highest net electrical efficiency ever
reached by a syngas cogeneration plant in
this output range - between 27% and 29%,
depending on the quality of the wood and
the air used in the process, reports GE.
The Villanova Mondovi project - with an
output estimated at 995 kW - qualifies for
the government’s incentive tariff, which
encourages the development of smaller,
geographically-distributed power plants.
Owned and operated by Italian energy
company Energia & Calora, the plant was
commissioned at the beginning of 2011 and
is supplying thermal energy for a district
heating network that covers an industrial
area along with private and public buildings,
including the local school.
“The strong teamwork between Pyrox
GmbH, its subsidiary Pyrox Italia Srl. and GE
has been a key to the remarkable success of
this innovative project, which uses
advanced technology to reach unprecedented
levels of efficiency and output for a
plant of this type,” Andreas Marocco, head
of management of Pyrox Italia told WIP.
“We are very proud that our project
supports the country’s efforts to increase its
energy output while reducing the
environmental impact by taking advantage
of abundant fuel sources, such as wood
biomass.”
The National Action Plan of Italy calls for
45% of the country’s cleaner energy to be
produced from biomass, with 60% of that
total coming from solid biomass, such as
wood. There is a strong trend in that
direction; the use of wood biomass for
energy production in Italy has increased by
7% over the last two years.
“Italy is an attractive market for wood
biomass power projects, which have the
strong support of the Italian government as
the country strives to expand and diversify
its alternative energy capacity,” comments
Rafael Santana, president and CEO—Gas
Engines for GE Energy. He concluded:
“With its proven high efficiency and low
emissions, our advanced gas engine technology
is an excellent match for smaller, local
projects using local fuels while reducing the
overall environmental impact.”