Campaign against Climate Change

I would like to know why Blue-NG would use vegetable oil instead of solid biomass, new or waste, either of which should be cheaper than vegetable oil, or natural gas, or biogas. I heard the London Climate Change Agency plans a biogas piped network.

Anyway, more on the plant and Greenpeace position here.

http://www.hvnplus.co.uk/page.cfm/action=Archive/ArchiveID=12/EntryID=505

Sustainable promise by biofuel power firm

Ben Hall 06 Jun 2008

The company behind the UK’s first ever vegetable oil fuelled power station will sign up to a binding legal agreement which means it can only use sustainable crops.

The new Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant in Beckton has been recommended for approval by councillors on Newham Council and is likely to be formally approved by the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation on Thursday June 12

Up to 20MW of electrical power could be generated by the plant being developed by Blue-NG, a joint venture between National Grid and renewable specialist 2OC, and the additional 5MW of thermal power which would generated could link in with district heating schemes.

But, councillors have said the scheme can only go ahead if Blue-NG agrees to a Section 106 agreement which prevents the facility using biofuel sourced from non-sustainable crops.

Blue-NG chief executive Andrew Mercer (pictured) said: “Councillors have recognised Blue-NG can help to reduce London’s carbon emissions which helping to maintain secure and affordable power from renewables. We are delighted to sign up to a sustainable procurement policy for our vegetable oil, which we hope will be a model of best practice.

“Planning approval from Newham means we are on target to be producing renewable energy in London for Londoners by 2010, helping the city to meet its sustainability goals.”

There has been concern over the use of biofuels with Biofuelwatch urging Newham Council due to worries over the impact on the supply chain. The independent campaign group said although Blue-NG was committing itself to sourcing biofuel from sustainable sources this could still have a knock on effect by forcing other companies to use non-sustainable sources.

However, Blue-NG points out it worked with Greenpeace UK on developing its sustainable policy and has received the organisation's seal of approval for its proposals.

Blue-NG's claims:

Electrical output = approx 20Mw electrical and 5Mw thermal
Total plant electrical efficiency = 73.6 per cent average and 81 per cent peak
Total plant efficiency including heat = 92.5 per cent average and 96 per cent peak
John Sauven, executive director at Greenpeace UK, said: “Greenpeace, in common with many other environmental non-governmental organisations, is concerned about the unsustainable use of biofuels, especially for road transport. However, we believe that with strong caveats they have a role to play in the UK’s electricity generation industry where they offer the potential for substantial carbon savings.

“If biofuels are to be used they should be used ideally in plants which capture heat and produce electricity rather than as a transport fuel. With transport it is far better to make vehicles more energy efficient rather than rely on biofuels for any carbon saving.

“Blue-NG asked for our help in developing a biofuel procurement policy that meets a high standard of environmental sustainability.”

Blue-NG hopes to follow up the Beckton scheme with another in Southall with six more pilot sites planned.

Blue-NG explains its system

The company is pioneering a system called Closed Cycle Bio Generation (CCBG) and has patented a new type of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) it has called Combined Heat and Intelligent Power (CHiP)

Existing facility:
"Beckton is home to a Pressure Reduction Station (PRS). One of many within the UK gas pipeline network. When gas comes out of the ground and flows within pipelines, it is under very high pressure.

"To make it safe for use in homes and industry, the PRS reduces that pressure from high to low. As the pressure reduces the gas temperature drops, and in many cases it is necessary to heat up the gas before passing it through the pressure reducing valve. Today, that is done by burning gas in a boiler to heat up the gas in the pipeline.

"There is no power generation at a PRS and the heat from the gas burners is used only to heat up the gas in the pipeline."

Proposals:
"Sustainable energy crops provide the vegetable oil which is the fuel for our engines. The engines burn the oil that generate electricity. The engines become hot and rather than just waste that heat, we put it into a special type of generating cycle (known as an Organic Rankin Cycle or ORC) which produces more electricity.

"Some more of the heat from the engines and the ORC is used to heat up the gas in the adjacent pipeline. We then recapture that heat from the pipeline using a recovery turbine generator, to create even more electricity.

"We still have some heat remaining that we can capture and divert for use in local district heating schemes.So, the CCBG produces 3 streams of electricity and one stream of heat."

[Ends]

No it isn't helpful. Have you got any links on this? I cannot find anything. My guess is that Greenpeace has supported this scheme for some time and long before the impact of sourcing palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia was understood.