Industry
News
Yale to Add Second
Cogen Plant
The New Haven Register reported
Aug. 23 that Yale University will build a
$70 million cogeneration plant to serve its
School of Medicine. Construction on the
plant, which will include two 7. 5 MW
cogeneration units, is scheduled to commence after Jan. 1, 2009. The medical
school and Yale-New Haven Hospital are
currently supplied with steam and chilled
water from the university’s Sterling Power
Plant. Yale already has one cogeneration
plant at its main power plant that generates electricity for the main campus and
Science Hill. The expansion of cogeneration
capacity is in keeping with Yale’s goal to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10
percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
Heathrow Saves Money
With Infrared Cameras
England’s Heathrow Airport, the busiest
international airport in the world, is using
FLIR Systems infrared cameras as part
of its plan to dramatically reduce energy
consumption by 2010. The British Airport
Authority, which manages Heathrow, has
purchased four cameras: one ThermaCAM™
P-series camera and three ThermaCAM™
E-series cameras.
Although the infrared program has not
yet been officially activated throughout the
airport, Heathrow’s energy manager, Andy
Watson, has already used one of the cameras to determine the exact location of a
steam system leak. A pipe near Terminal 1,
running under a very busy road, was leaking
recently, with steam coming out of two
inspection pits in the road more than 60 m
(197 ft) from each other. The camera
enabled Watson to pinpoint the leak’s
location, enabling the repair crew to break
the road open precisely where the pipe
was leaking, rather than over the total
distance between the pits. By not opening
and repairing the whole surface to find the
leak, Watson estimates repair costs will be
45,000 euros ($66,270) rather than
450,000 euros ($662,700).
Stellar to Develop Biogas
Conversion Systems
Stellar announced it is developing
modular renewable energy systems that
will convert waste to energy. These biogas
conversion systems, which reduce emissions and generate electric and thermal
power, will be constructed at the company’s prefabrication facility in Jacksonville,
Fla. They will serve clients in a range of
industries including waste management
and wastewater treatment; food and beverage processing; agricultural; petrochemical; biofuel refining; and numerous other
industries that produce various forms of
organic waste that can be converted into
energy.
To transform the waste into energy,
the waste must be pretreated, separated
and stored in enclosed anaerobic digesters
that decompose and break down organic
matter by excluding oxygen, thus producing a biogas. The biogas is then burned in
an engine to generate electricity, heating
and cooling, sold to a nearby facility or
redistributed to a nearby electrical grid.
Stellar will work closely with customers to
design, supply and install these biogas
renewable energy systems.
ABB Automation Integrates
Iceland’s Utilities
Reykjavik Energy selected ABB to
upgrade and integrate five utility automation
systems – geothermal power plants, district
heating, water and wastewater – into a
single state-of-the-art 800xA extended
automation system that will be operated
from a central control room.
Reykjavik Energy, Iceland’s largest utility,
provides almost 70 percent of the country’s
population with electric power, district
heating, hot and cold water and wastewater treatment. The company operates
two geothermal power plants that provide
240 MW of electricity and 700 MW of
heat to some 26,000 homes and businesses
in 20 communities.
According to Reykjavik Energy, the
district heating system is the “largest and
most sophisticated in the world.” Hot water
is pumped via 2,500 km ( 1,553 miles) of
pipes to heat buildings and keep pavement
and outdoor parking lots free of ice in winter,
as well as supply the many outdoor swimming pools and spas with a constant stream
of hot geothermal water.
Cold ground water is distributed to
consumers throughout the Greater Reykjavik
area, and the region’s sewage is piped to
several wastewater treatment plants
throughout the area.
ABB supplied the original distributed
controls systems for the utilities in the late
1990s and has evolved all five systems to
its Extended Automation System 800xA in
accordance with the advanced and growing
requirements of Reykjavik Energy. Reykjavik
Energy is in an expansive phase of development, acquiring and integrating other
utilities and extending its geographical
reach and customer base. System 800xA
enables the customer to easily integrate the
control systems, databases and automation
hardware of future acquisitions. The company’s previous investments in programmable logic controllers have all been integrated
into the System 800xA solutions. Some
50,000 input/output data signals are
processed by the solution.
Danfoss Marks 75th
Anniversary, Announces
New CEO
In 2008 Danfoss is marking the milestone of its 75th anniversary with a series
of employee celebrations in North America
and abroad. The company, which researches,
develops and produces mechanical and
electronic components and systems, was
founded in 1933 by engineer Mads Clausen.
His first product was an expansion valve for
refrigeration systems. Today the company
has 70 factories in 25 countries, 114 sales
offices and 22,500 employees.
Settlement Reached in
Con Ed Pipe Blast
The New York Times reported Aug. 9
that Con Edison has agreed to pay more
than $24 million for damage caused by the
July 18, 2007, explosion of one of its steam
