Siemens Energy has won a contract from Northeast Energy Center (NEC) and Chart Energy & Chemicals to supply a gas / electric hybrid drive system for NEC’s LNG plant being built in Charlton, Massachusetts.
Siemens Energy will serve as the single-source supplier for providing rotating equipment and associated control systems to offer a significant advance in efficiency.
The hybrid drive system will combine a Siemens Energy low-emissions industrial gas turbine, integrally geared compressor, and electric motor-generator to ensure stable and efficient operation of the plant’s main refrigeration/liquefaction train throughout the year while slashing emissions, reducing costs, and increasing efficiency.
The NEC project is important to the security of energy supply of New England that depends on imported LNG. The NEC facility is expected to produce a baseload of 170,000 gallons of LNG per day for Boston Gas under a firm contract and up to 250,000 gallons per day to other utilities.
The gas turbine’s output will decrease when LNG production increases to 250,000 gallons per day on hot summer days when the motor-generator will function as a motor to supply additional power to the compression system.
“The combination of the gas turbine, integrally geared compressor, and motor-generator at the NEC plant represents a highly flexible solution that will enable the liquefaction plant to operate efficiently. This will significantly reduce overall energy consumption over the plant’s life, resulting in a lower carbon footprint,” said Rich Voorberg, president of Siemens Energy North America.
“Building on this next generation design and its environmental advantages, NEC also offers local utilities a choice of L-RNG, an LNG product made from renewable natural gas,” said Boris Brevnov, Manager and Developer of NEC.
The plant has an onsite LNG storage capacity of 2 million gallons. The LNG will be available for delivery by truck and used as a feedstock for utility distribution companies and power generation facilities.