Decentralized Energy Supply:
Tailored Solutions for Industry
This year, the Decentralized Energy Supply display area at HANNOVER MESSE's Energy (Fair ground, Hannover Messe 2015) show will once again give visitors a comprehensive overview of the latest innovative solutions for combined heat and power (CHP) and combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP), not to mention the full range of services, from energy trading and direct marketing of electricity to energy contracting. The Decentralized Energy Supply group pavilion alone will feature 44 exhibitors on more than 2,000 square meters (21,520 sq. ft.) of display space. Among them will be providers of solutions for combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) plants and providers of energy services whose core business lies in helping municipal organizations and companies in the industrial and commerce sectors identify and realize energy savings. The pavilion will also host ten forum events that will facilitate discussion between representatives from industry, science and government on a range of topical issues, including the role of decentralized CHP plants as an efficient flexibility option for Germany's new energy market design.
This year's Decentralized Energy Supply group pavilion will also feature a stronger showing by providers of renewables- and fuel cell-based solutions designed primarily for companies at the SME-end of the manufacturing, light industry and commerce spectrum.
Marc Siemering, the Senior Vice President in charge of HANNOVER MESSE (Fair ground, Hannover Messe 2015) at Deutsche Messe, believes that industry-tailored CHP and CCHP technologies offer enormous scope for greater technical and commercial efficiencies. "Currently about half of the primary energy that goes into industrial processes and generating useable energy is wasted. The Energy show is the premier platform for multidisciplinary presentations of technological innovations and new business ideas to address these inefficiencies," he said.
Among the many exhibitors of tailored innovations and business models at the Decentralized Energy Supply pavilion is 2G Energy AG, a German-based manufacturer of CHP plants. 2G will be staging the HANNOVER MESSE (Fair ground, Hannover Messe 2015) debut of its CHP-plant rental model under the slogan "Innovation without Investment." With this model, customers can rent CHP plants rather than buying them outright. 2G offers standardized CHP units in the 20 to 550 kWel output range as well as container units for customers that require higher-capacity solutions. The CHP plants are rented for terms of between four and nine years, depending on requirements, after which they are returned. 2G markets this rental model primarily to energy suppliers and providers of energy services in a range of countries.
CRC process using a piston expansion engine
Faced with growing pressure to increase their resource and energy efficiency, industrial companies are increasingly turning to optimized solutions for utilizing the waste heat generated by their industrial processes. Against this background, the German-based heat recovery specialist SteamDrive GmbH will be using the group pavilion to unveil its heat recovery system for CHP plants. SteamDrive's high-temperature waste-heat recovery system can boost CHP electric output by seven percent while at the same time increasing the thermal input into the CHP cycle by over 60 percent. The waste heat recovery system is based on the Clausius-Rankine Cycle (CRC), a process whereby high-temperature waste heat is used to generate superheated steam in a closed circuit. The superheated steam is then admitted to a piston expansion machine - a kind of steam engine - where it expands and drives pistons which are connected to cranks which convert the vertical piston motion into torque. The torque can then either be used to drive mechanical processes or - as in the case of the CHP retrofit unit on show at the Decentralized Energy Supply pavilion - to turn a generator to produce additional electricity. The expanded steam is then condensed and fed via a feed pump back to the evaporator. In this way, the CRC process generates electricity from industrial waste heat without itself creating any further CO2 emissions or consuming any additional fuel. It is suitable for all industrial waste heat outputs over 350°C (662°F). At the group pavilion, SteamDrive will showcase CRC heat recovery solutions that can be retrofitted to CHP units with rated electric outputs of 400 kW, thereby boosting their output by 30 kW.
Renewables also have a place in decentralized energy generation
Industrial applications involving fuel-cell- and wood-chip-based CHP units are still niche solutions, but that could be about to change. FuelCell Energy Solutions, of Dresden, Germany, offers stationary MCFC (molten carbonate fuel cell) power plants in various electric output classes, ranging from 250 kW to 2,800 kW. They are scalable up to 50 MW, which is enough power to meet the requirements of users such as universities and industrial and commercial parks. They are also used for grid support purposes by energy companies. MCFC units are high-temperature fuel cells that operate at 650°C (1,202°F). The 250-MW module manufactured by FuelCell Energy Solutions can be powered by either natural gas or biogas and has an electric efficiency of 47 percent. In 2014, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) took delivery of one of these 250-MW plants for its new office complex in Berlin. The plant is configured for combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) operation.
The wood-fired power plants developed by another German firm, Spanner RE2 GmbH, use CHP technology to convert wood chips into heat and power with extreme efficiency. Spanner will be using the Energy show to unveil its newly developed compact units, which have electric outputs of 19, 30 and 45 kW, use regionally available fuel resources, and are climate neutral. The company also provides large-scale plants. For example, by cascading multiple smaller units, it has already realized a number large-scale plants with outputs of 1,000 kW electric and 2,400 kW thermal for use in district heating networks. The technical concept, which comprises an innovative fuel reformer and a robust CHP unit, has already proven its worth in hundreds of projects around the world. Spanner RE2's offering is aimed primarily at small and medium businesses in light industry and commerce, the healthcare sector and hotels.
Images: R. Eberhard, messekompakt.com, EBERHARD print & medien agentur gmbh
Source: Deutsche Messe AG