Turboden to build two OCR power plants in UK

Italian-based Organic Rankine Cycle (OCR) specialists Turboden has announced plans to build two biomass-fuelled combined cooling, heat and power plants in the UK.

The company, which was acquired by Pratt and Whitney Power Systems in 2009, will supply one of its ORC turbo generators each to British Sky Broadcasting (BSB) and Heathrow Airport.

‘We’re proud to be entering the UK market,' says Turboden general manager Paolo Bertuzzi, 'as traditionally we have developed projects within which our OCR units aided district-heating in small or medium-sized villages.’

The main BSB campus in West London hopes to receive 32 tons of wood chips per day from local businesses within a 25-mile radius. That will be burnt to heat thermal oil systems, which will drive the 1MW ORC turbine. Lower-grade heat will be recovered to create chilled water for cooling and the rest for hot water.

The biomass-fuelled CCHP ORC unit at London Heathrow will use clean wood waste to produce 1.8MW of electricity and 8MW of thermal heat and cooling to Terminals T2a and T2b, plus heat only to Terminal T5.

‘At a time when the UK government is formally assessing the potential of renewable electricity and heating technologies, we are showcasing the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of biomass-fuelled plants,’adds Bertuzzi. ‘These projects are an example of how biomass can contribute to meeting the UK's renewable energy goals.’

In addition, BSB is to develop a 1MW CCHP plant as part of its carbon-cutting emissions plans for a new studio, editing, transmission and data facility.