District Energy 2012 Q2

Renewable Energy, Renewed
Investment

The first phase in the revitalization of Detroit Thermal can be traced back to 2003 when Youngstown, Ohio-based Thermal Ventures II LP acquired the system and renamed it Detroit Thermal, subsequently spending $35 million on upgrades and switching to natural gas-fired boilers and a new source of clean power – municipal solid waste. Detroit Thermal contracted 75 percent of its steam from Detroit’s privately operated energy-from-waste (EFW) plant, augmenting three other generating facilities and a total of 20 boilers around the city.

The second major advance came
in 2010 when an innovative renewable
energy consortium, financially backed
by Connecticut-based Atlas Holdings
and organized as Detroit Renewable
Energy (DRE), brought a new, integrated
energy model to the Motor City. DRE
acquired three entities with the intent
of integrating their operations. The first
acquisition was the city’s aging EFW
facility, now Detroit Renewable Power,
which had recently been shut down by
its previous owners. DRE then acquired
Detroit Thermal and finally the assets
of Hamtramck Energy Services, a man-
ager of corporate power generation and
a key energy services provider for a
number of General Motors plants.

In its first year, DRE invested
more than $50 million in the
EFW facility to improve this
connected energy enterprise.

Through these acquisitions, DRE
focused its investment strategy on
enhancing the city’s energy security,
long-term economic development and
environmental stewardship. Detroit
Thermal’s legacy steam system and the
performance of other U.S. steam net-
works had demonstrated district ener-
gy’s ability to increase energy security,
cut regional greenhouse gas emissions,
strengthen local and regional electric
grids, and increase the value of cus-
tomer buildings with critical year-round
heating and cooling.

Figure 1. The Detroit Renewable Energy-Detroit Thermal District Energy System.

Energy From Waste: A modern, sophisticated technology

The U.S. energy-from-waste industry has spent billions of dollars over the past two decades to upgrade combustion and environmental control technologies and become one of the most heavily regulated power generators in the country.

Today, in plants such as Detroit Renewable Power, high-temperature, high-pressure refuse furnaces and boilers convert municipal solid waste to clean, renewable energy under highly controlled conditions. Advanced computers and continuous emission monitors track operations 24/7/365. Scrubbers and fabric filters ensure high-level removal of acid gases, trace pollutants and fine particles.

Metals and other materials are also recovered and recycled. Detroit Renewable Power alone recycles an average of 37,000 tons of ferrous and nonferrous metal every year. Further, communities with EFW plants have a 26 percent local recycling rate – 5 percent higher than the national average.