Clarke Energy recently partnered with the UN Environment on their ‘Cooling Smart Cities: The Arrival of District Energy in India’ workshop held in Rajkot. The event discussed the activities of the UN Environment-led District Energy in Cities Initiative and its efforts to accelerate investments, raise awareness and unlock supportive policy frameworks for district energy systems in India.
Clarke Energy reiterated its commitment in disseminating gas based trigeneration solutions using reciprocating engine technology in district cooling plants across the country and implement all the required steps for successful technology adoption. Clarke Energy’s Deputy General Manager – Marketing (India & Bangladesh), Abhijit Rajguru discussed advantages of trigeneration using Jenbacher gas engine technology with the mention that to have positive spark spread, it is necessary that natural gas is made available at a reasonable price with little or no variation over long term. He also requested the representatives of Rajkot Municipal Corporation to adopt biomethane technology for treating municipal solid waste wherein biogas having calorific value anywhere between 4500-5200Kcal/Sm3 could be generated for use in power generation. The session was chaired by UN Environment’s District Energy in Cities Initiative Regional Technical Advisor Mr. Benjamin Hickman.
Reports say that by 2050, the space cooling could reach 28% of India’s electricity demand and 44% of peak load. With the addition of electric mobility, India’s 100 smart cities of the future will be some of the largest consumers of electricity in the world. Research shows that a city entirely dependent on the state/national electricity grid is not smart and as such cities globally are rethinking how to localise power consumption, integrate energy systems, supply low-carbon heating and cooling and recycle energy and resources within a city to maximise efficiency.
Local district energy plants provide high-efficient power, cooling and hot water to a city’s buildings and industry. These plants use a cost-effective combination of trigeneration, industrial-grade electric chillers, recycled waste heat from industry and power plants, solar cooling and free cooling from seas, rivers and lakes. In addition, the district energy plant can house large-scale thermal storage, eliminating use of grid electricity if necessary and can safely use environmentally friendly refrigerants.
These technologies are prescribed in the draft of India’s Cooling Action Plan as priority not-in kind technologies that must be scaled-up and adopted. Operating in 25 countries, Clarke Energy’s trigeneration plants (three valuable products for the customer: electricity, cooling & heating – all this from just one power plant) with Jenbacher gas engine technology use fuel in the most efficient way and help reduce carbon emission levels. Total plant efficiencies can exceed 90%.
The team at Clarke Energy would like to thank the UN Environment for the invitation to participate in the Rajkot workshop on Cooling Smart Cities.
