POWER October 2013 - 73

GAS POWER
1. Reciprocating engines in Germany. Stadtwerke Rosenheim's CHP portfolio includes
three J620 gas engines (3 x 3.35 MWe), one J624 two-stage turbocharged gas engine
(4.4 MWe), and a J920 FleXtra engine (pictured), which adds another 9.5 MWe to this capacity.
Courtesy: GE Jenbacher
save energy users $10 billion a year, result in
$40 billion to $80 billion in new capital investment
in manufacturing and other facilities, and
reduce emissions equivalent to 25 million cars.
Energy and Environmental Analysis, an
ICF company, produced a white paper for the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that
mentions a widely cited reference that reciprocating
internal combustion (IC) engines
are one of the most common engines used for
DG. With more than 9,000 MW of installed
capacity in the U.S., the IC engine makes
up around 75% of all fossil fuel-driven DG
units. Diesel and natural gas are used in these
engines-the former is used in compression
ignition engines, the latter in spark ignition
engines. Other spark ignition fuels include
biogas, landfill gas, and propane.
IC generators are also known as " generaprimary
energy source used in CHP applications,
followed by coal and biomass (often in
the form of waste products at paper mills).
Indeed, more than 65% of CHP capacity currently
operating in the U.S. uses natural gas
as a primary fuel source. CHP generators in
the U.S. and elsewhere are more likely than
other generators to burn a variety of fuels
(such as different types of biomass and industrial
byproducts).
For example, in July, the Middle Eastern
country of Lebanon rolled out its first landfill
gas-to-energy project near Beirut. The on-site
power project is powered by a GE Jenbacher
J312 landfill gas engine and potentially will
generate 637 kW. That capacity could expand
in the future if this initial application proves
successful. GE said that landfill gas typically
consists of approximately 55% methane,
which the Jenbacher engine uses for fuel.
In Germany, the entity Stadtwerke RosenWisconsin,
and in Maine; these burn wood
waste byproducts as fuel. CHP installations
are also common in states with a history of
utility regulation that favors the application,
such as Massachusetts, New Jersey, North
Carolina, California, and New York.
In addition, CHP was the focus of an August
2012 Executive Order signed by President
Obama. That order set a national goal of 40
GW of new CHP capacity by 2020, a 50% increase.
The order said meeting that goal would
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tor sets " or " gensets. " As such, they combine
an IC engine, a generator, and various ancillary
devices that form a DG unit. The technology
benefits from low relative cost, high reliability,
long operating life, short startup times, and
readily available fuel sources. The IC engine
also has high part-load efficiency, meaning it
can match or follow the electric load demand
within a 30% to 100% load range fairly cost effectively
and with little decrease in efficiency.
Current generation natural gas engines offer
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heim supplies water, electricity, gas, process
steam, and district heating for residential and
local industrial customers. Using combined
reciprocating engines in a CHP application offered
the city of Rosenheim a more flexible energy
supply infrastructure. A J920 FleXtra gas
engine (Figure 1) combined with heat storage
was combined with a waste incineration plant
and four existing GE engines to create a CHP
plant that generates about 40% of the electricity
and 20% of the heat required by the city.
Gaining Traction
CHP facilities often are built at factories or at
educational or corporate campuses that have
heat or steam demands. Applications are
widespread across Europe but less so in the
U.S. However, a concentration of CHP units
may be found along the Gulf Coast, where
cogeneration plants are located near refineries
and chemical plants. A number of smaller-scale
CHP installations are located near
pulp and paper mills in the South, in northern
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