GE Energy Supplies 40 Jenbacher Gas Engines for 'Energy Park'

Contract Marks GE's Largest Order of Jenbacher Biogas Engines in the World

Representing its largest order of Jenbacher biogas engines and the largest biogas power plant in the world, GE Energy is supplying 40 high-efficiency, JMS 312 units to renewable energy developer, NAWARO Bioenergie AG, Leipzig, for an agricultural biogas project in eastern Germany, near the Polish border.

Each of GE's 500 kW Jenbacher engines is being installed in separate plants to support the new combined heat and power (CHP) bioenergy park "Klarsee," adjacent to farmland in the town of Penkun in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. GE's 40 units will utilize biogas created during the fermentation of agricultural waste, including maize, crop residues and animal manure. Residual material in the digester can be used as a valuable fertilizer.

Normally, agricultural wastes decompose gradually to create methane, a potent greenhouse gas. However, by capturing the gas and using it as fuel, less of it is free to escape into the atmosphere.

In all, GE's Jenbacher engines will provide 20 MW of electricity and 22 MW in thermal output. While the engines' electricity will be sold to the local grid, a separate, specially designed heat recovery system will deliver the engines' thermal output to an adjacent fertilizer production facility on the farmland.

"GE is very pleased to support this important biogas project, which will help Germany expand its renewable energy capacity and support the European Commission's goal to develop a more modern, more energy efficient CHP infrastructure," said Prady Iyyanki, General Manager of GE's Jenbacher gas engine business. "This milestone, 40-unit Jenbacher order will help us address our customer's pressing energy and environmental challenges."

Each biogas plant has a maximum electrical output of 500 kW. Therefore, the projects qualify under Germany's Renewable Energy Law (EEG) for "feed-in" tariffs and "CHP bonus incentives" for fully utilizing the engines' heat. Under EEG, biogas plants are guaranteed a minimum price for supplying electricity for a period of 20 years.

GE's biogas engine activities in Germany began in 1990, when the first Jenbacher biogas CHP unit to be sold in Germany began generating power. GE has delivered about 560 Jenbacher biogas-fueled gas engines worldwide, demonstrating the GE technology's quality, long life-cycle, reliability and availability.

In May 2006, GE announced its Jenbacher biogas technology - beside its landfill and coal mine gas solutions - had been certified as an ecomagination product. Ecomagination is GE's commitment to address challenges such as the need for cleaner, more efficient sources of energy, reduced emissions and abundant sources of clean water.

Under ecomagination, GE will invest US$1.5 billion annually in research in cleaner technologies by 2010 - General Electric.