SaskEnergy pipeline subsidiary TransGas, together with partner companies Found Energy and Innovative Steam Technologies (IST) were in Weyburn on February 4 to announce the formation of an innovative green technology in Saskatchewan.
The companies will use this innovative technology designed to capture the waste heat of compressor station engines and convert it to useable electricity. If successful, the corporation could be producing more renewable electricity than it consumes by 2015, thanks to this new green technology. The project will also help develop Waste Heat Recovery technology for applications with other energy industry markets in Western Canada.
Minister responsible for SaskEnergy Dustin Duncan said that the new technology has implications for the oil and gas sector.
"Oil and gas operations have battery sites that use compressors so this might be an opportunity for them to use their waste heat," said Duncan.
The $5.7M Waste Heat Recovery project at TransGas' Rosetown and Coleville Compressor Stations will capture heat normally vented to the atmosphere through the compressor engines' exhaust, and converts it to electricity utilizing a process called the Organic Rankine Cycle. The electricity will then be sold back to the SaskPower grid.
"SaskEnergy and TransGas have set a goal to become net zero in electricity consumption by 2015 and Waste Heat Recovery will be one of the key factors in pursuing this goal," said Duncan. "Recovering waste heat from compressor engines will reduce the corporation's carbon footprint and our province's reliance on traditional, electrical generation sources. Through this project, SaskEnergy is supporting Saskatchewan's "Go Green" initiative by investing in an environmental solution to an everyday business process."
Construction is currently underway at Rosetown Compressor Station, with commissioning, testing, and start-up planned for March, with the Coleville project soon to follow. The Coleville Waste Heat Recovery project will be the first of its kind in North America to utilize new technology for small compressor engines, which is why SaskEnergy and Found Energy are optimistic about its future use in the energy industry. Similar projects are in the planning stages for some of TransGas' other compressor facilities.
TransGas uses compressors to move natural gas through its 14,000 kilometres of high pressure transmission pipeline across Saskatchewan, as well as to inject gas into its 27 underground storage caverns and two storage fields.
"Found Energy brings together the best minds and technology available and with our collective in-house resources, are well positioned to be a single-source provider that can handle jobs from start to finish," said IST President Bob Dautovich. "We have the unique ability to partner with forward-thinking industry leaders to develop such clean energy facilities. We are extremely pleased to have this first order from TransGas and look forward to 小蓝视频 their partner in improving their energy efficiency and helping to reduce their carbon footprint."
The Rosetown Waste Heat Recovery unit is expected to produce roughly seven million kWh per year - enough to power nearly 800 Saskatchewan homes. This is equivalent to approximately 25 percent of SaskEnergy and TransGas' total annual electrical consumption. The Rosetown project will offset approximately 5,000 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e) per year - comparable to that which would be achieved by planting approximately 78 square kilometres of carbon absorbing forest.
