|
|
| Cogenerate to rehabilitate |
| By Jim Montalto, News Editor |
| Published: 11/13/2006 |
California is in an energy crisis. That might not be all too surprising, but the role its agencies are playing to alleviate the problem might be of interest to other states looking to rehabilitate their energy systems.The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has called upon energy companies to help them become less dependent on the state's electrical grid and find newer methods for energy efficiency BluePoint Energy was one of the companies that responded. “When the CDCR put out an RFP for energy conservation services we knew this would serve as a good entry to talk about what we could provide,” says Dwight Wells, BluePoint's senior director of project management. His company provides combined heat and power, also known as cogeneration, products which seemed like a good fit for the CDCR's energy woes between late 1999 and early 2000. The state's dwindling budget, however, did not allow for these bigger technology solutions that can make energy use more efficient. Within the past few years, Governor Schwarzenegger mandated that state agencies provide solutions to promote the “greening” of every state facility; produce significant energy costs savings; and decrease California's dependence on its electrical grid system. (See California's Green Action Team initiative.) CDCR's spent about $81 million in electricity and natural gas purchases in 2005. In response, the CDCR requested proposals from energy companies that could help its 33 adult institutions and seven juvenile facilities meet the Governor's demands. BluePoint responded with a few different services that could meet the CDCR's needs. “The Governor's executive order requires a 20 percent reduction in grid-based energy purchases by state-owned buildings by 2015,” says CDCR energy management chief Harry Franey. “So we first asked energy services companies to audit our institutions and identify areas where improvements could be made.” BluePoint conducted this analysis at the Heman G. Stark and East Chino correctional facilities, which host central plant sites. It then presented a discount energy purchase proposal for a $1.9 million cogeneration project. Wells says the discount energy purchase agreement could financially help California because the state wouldn't have to come up with the capital required to meet its new energy requirements. What interests Franey more, though, are the cogeneration abilities BluePoint can provide. “BluePoint can help us beat the utilities by having its systems consume all the wasted heat that our generators give off as they heat and cool our facilities,” he explains. Conventional power plants produce heat when they are generating electricity. This byproduct is usually put into the environment through the high cooling towers associated with utilities. BluePoint's cogeneration modules actually trap this wasted heat and then use it to heat a facility. “Co-generation provides two sources of energy from one fuel source. The energy coming off a generator is actually captured and can be re-used,” explains Wells. “As a result, you can attain anywhere between 75 percent to 85 percent efficiency just by recapturing thermal energy.” Wells says he also has trigeneration systems, which can produce electricity and then recycles the excess heat to both heat and cool a facility. “You take cogeneration one step further with absorption chilling,” Wells adds. “You use the recycled waste heat to charge a salt chemical that will chill water, which is then used for air conditioning.” Franey is ready to explore more of these energy-saving opportunities when the CDCR and the state think the time is right. “I'm ready to go, but the state has contracting rules that everyone has to follow and it takes a lot of time. It's not like we're buying pencils. These are major expenses and this is new technology that people need to better understand,” he explains. Franey expects to implement some type of cogeneration system in 2007. BluePoint's abilities have already made the company a qualified vendor, so it will be able to present to the CDCR more of what it can do sometime soon. In the meantime, Franey is exploring other energy-saving options like installing more efficient light bulbs through CDCR facilities. “There's been advancements in the lighting industry, like new florescent lighting for example, so we could capitalize on that,” he adds, “We're focused on reducing energy use and getting off the electrical grid, or at lessening our dependence on the state's grid. That's our goal.” Related Resources: Alliance to Save Energy Indiana corrections goes green, 4/17/06 |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think