NEWS FLYWHEEL CO2 CAPTURE


UNINTERRUPTIBLE UPS SYSTEM LAUNCHED BY GE


RESULTS KNOWN Earlier this year, BASF, the world’s leading chemical company, and The Linde Group, jointly & successful completed a pilot project to improve capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from flue gas at a coal fired power plant at the US National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC). The NCCC is a U.S.


Department of Energy (DOE) research facility both man- aged and operated by the Southern Company, in Wilsonville, AL.


gigajoules of regeneration steam per metric ton of CO2. The NCCC includes a post- combustion carbon capture facility that allows testing and integration of key advanced technologies using actual coal-derived flue gas from an 880-MW pulverized coal unit at Alabama Power’s Plant in Gaston.


n critical facilities, uptime is essential. When main power becomes interrupted, these applications depend on backup systems to ensure crucial equipment remains up and running.


I


Not all mission-critical facilities are the same, though, and neither are their backup power needs. Adding to its extensive set of offerings, today, GE has unveiled a new series of flywheel uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems. The new flywheel UPS systems range from 50 to 1,000 kilovolt- amperes and integrate patented flywheel technology from VYCON, a subsidiary of Calnetix Technologies, with GE’s TLE Series and SG Series solutions. Adding flywheel UPS systems to GE’s range of backup power offerings provides flexibility to meet the needs of mission-critical customers. In the event of a utility power outage, a UPS keeps electricity flowing to vital systems and equipment until auxiliary generators cycle on. There are two types of UPS systems primarily used by mission-critical customers today - battery and flywheel UPS systems. A battery UPS system stores energy and converts it to electricity through a chemical reaction. This solution can provide backup power for several minutes or hours, depending on the system, until an auxiliary source of power is switched on. A flywheel UPS system stores kinetic energy in the form of a spinning disk and is designed for short-time discharge applications. “There are several advantages to using a flywheel UPS system in certain mission-critical applications,” explained Ray Prince, global product manager for UPS Solutions, GE Energy Connections’ Industrial Solutions.


“By utilizing a flywheel UPS, customers can avoid costs associated with storing and replacing batteries. Additionally, a flywheel UPS system takes up less space in the power room and can reduce a facility’s overall carbon footprint.”


Since January 2015, the project operated a pilot plant under a co-operative agree- ment with DOE’s key National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). Based on the successful completion, BASF and Linde will begin larger-scale testing and explore commercial opportu- nities. The technology used during the pilot project integrates BASF’s new advanced aqueous amine-


based solvent and process technology, marketed by BASF under the OASE® blue brand, with novel CO2- capture process & engineer- ing innovations developed by Linde.


. Parametric and long- duration testing confirm the main performance targets set for the facility. Specifically, it captured more than 90 percent CO2 from the flue gas while the purity of the CO2 was more than 99.9 percent. The design capacity of the operation was up to 1.5 Megawatt-electric (MWe) and required around less than 2.8 gigajoules of regeneration


The pilot plant has operated at the facility for more than 1,200 hours at a higher regen- eration pressure of 3.4 bar absolute, thereby demonstrat- ing a cost advantage over other amine-based technolo- gies.


“The amine-based OASE blue technology offers signifi- cant benefits for CO2 capture as it aims to reduce the regen- eration energy requirements using novel solvents,” Dr. Andreas Northemann, Vice President of BASF’s OASE Gas Treating Excellence project told APN.


“Long-term pilot testing has now demonstrated the solvents’ performance and stability. “


VAISALA PARTNERS WITH XCEL ENERGY, COLORADO’S LARGEST UTILITY


aisala, a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement and provider of industry-leading renewable energy consulting services, has partnered with Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest utility, to provide due diligence services on its 600 MW Rush Creek Wind Farm. Once complete, the wind farm will be one of the largest in Colorado, as well as the most economical. It will also be the first to be entirely owned and operated by Xcel Energy through its subsidiary Public Service Company of Colorado.


V Flexibility and speed were key for the Rush Creek Wind Farm, which was one of the reasons


Vaisala was selected by Xcel Energy to support the project. Xcel Energy must begin work on the project before the end of 2016. Meeting this deadline will help the company preserve $125 million in tax credits. "Vaisala worked fast," Gerald Kelly, Project Manager for Rush Creek at Xcel Energy, tells


APN’s Aidan Turnbull. "They are flexible, and they met our deadline. This allowed us to continue with our plans, and will save Colorado customers money." As a pioneer in utility-scale wind energy assessment, Vaisala delivered comprehensive energy due diligence reports for the project. The reports included detailed analysis of meteorological observations at the project sites, weather simulation, expected energy production and uncertainties surrounding generation predictions for the project. The purpose of Vaisala's reports was to characterize expected generation at the Rush Creek site, and in the process create investor certainty for Xcel Energy. Vaisala's report concluded that the Rush Creek Wind Farm I site is expected to produce just over 2,311 GWh on an annual basis, enough to power more than 200,000 homes. This total accounts for the real-world effects that can cause wind farm energy losses, including availability issues, wake effects, line losses and turbine inefficiencies and degradation.


The Rush Creek Wind Farm will, in turn, deliver a boost to Colorado's economy, as the wind project's transmission lines and distribution facilities will all be locally designed, manufactured, installed and operated. As a result, the Rush Creek Wind Project is expected to expand the local tax base, create hundreds of jobs and generate more than $180 million in landowner lease payments and property taxes. "We're proud to have provided our due diligence services to Xcel Energy on its flagship Rush Creek Wind Farm, one that will inject an estimated $1 billion into the Colorado economy and be among the largest wind projects in the state," said Matthew Hendrickson, Vaisala's Global Manager of Energy Assessment. "As Colorado aims to source almost a third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, Rush Creek represents a major step forward toward meeting that goal."


12 NOVEMBER 2016 AMERICAN POWER NEWS


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