Clarke Energy has been awarded to supply a GE Jenbacher natural gas engine and an exhaust gas steam generator to CAPS Australia for the first cogeneration project in the Northern Territory, Alice Springs Hospital. CEA will also provide service support after commissioning. Alice Springs Hospital’s cogeneration system will be commissioned in early 2012. It will generate more than half the hospital’s electricity using an 834 kWe reciprocating gas engine. The generator’s exhaust heat will be used to make 40 percent of the steam used for sterilisation, the laundry, hot water and heating, instead of burning gas in the hospital’s boilers to make this steam. The site is due to become operational in 2012.
Generation Capacity
834kW electricity will be provided by the high efficiency GE Jenbacher gas engine. A waste heat steam generator will utilise the exhaust gas to generate 9 bar steam to supply the hospital’s base load.
Principal Equipment
GE Jenbacher JMS 316 GS-N.L C05 combined, heat and power generating set rated at 834kWe, 50Hz, NOx (500mg/Nm3), full operation at 570m altitude up to 30oC. Aprovis steam generator rated at 590kg/h 9barg steam production with 98% steam dryness.
General Description
With a predicted Internal Rate of Return of 21% (i.e. like getting 21% interest on an investment), the Alice Springs Hospital cogeneration project is a great example of the win-win role that energy efficiency can play in both financial and environmental sustainability.
