GE supplies Jenbacher gas engine technology to Bulgarian biomass plant

GE Jenbacher Gas engine

GE is supplying its Jenbacher gas engine technology to build an integrated gasified biomass power plant in Bulgaria.

The 5-megawatt (MW) Karlovo plant will use three of GE’s fuel-flexible Jenbacher engines—one J612 and two J620 units—powered by syngas derived from straw and wood chips and will produce enough electricity to power 2,000 homes.

GE’s Jenbacher J612 and J620 gas engines running on syngas from renewable biomass are part of GE’s ecomagination portfolio.

GE Jenbacher Gas engine

The project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2014.

The plant is being built by EQTEC Iberia, part of Spanish holding company Ebioss Energy.

The country’s target is for 16 percent of its energy demand to be met by domestic renewable sources by 2020, but at present more than 70 percent of its energy is from imported natural gas and oil.

“Gasifying biomass for energy usage—in this case, straw and wood chips—requires special know-how, and our engineers and GE’s team worked as one team to integrate EQTEC Gasifier Technology and GE’s power generation technologies for improved performance and economics,” said Luis Sanchez CEO, EBIOSS.

According to Sanchez, the IBGPP plant achieves a far higher electrical efficiency than the thermal technologies traditionally used in a plant of this size.

A typical Rankine thermal cycle-based plant offers an electrical efficiency of 18 to 20 percent from converting biomass to electricity compared to using GE’s Jenbacher gas engines that offer approximately 28 percent electrical efficiency and almost 70 percent total combined heat and power efficiency.

The advantage of using syngas is that it is a continually renewable fuel that enables power to be produced economically on-site at the point of use, reducing losses inherent in electrical transmission. The use of syngas will help address the energy challenges faced by countries like Bulgaria, said GE officials.

GE’s Jenbacher gas engine is ideal for this type of application because it has the flexibility and robustness that make it known for its performance even with non-traditional fuel gases, said Leon van Vurren, global sales leader, Jenbacher gas engines for GE’s Distributed Power business.

EQTEC and GE collaborated earlier in 2008 for an IBGPP cogeneration plant in Spain at the alcohol distillery of the company MOSTOS, VINOS Y ALCOHOLES, SA (MOVIALSA) at Campo de Criptana in the La Mancha region.

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