Kenyan Agricultural Plant Installs Biogas Engines

Tropical Power, a developer of biogas and solar plants in Africa, has signed a deal with Clarke Energy to supply two Jenbacher biogas engines from GE Power & Water to an agricultural biogas plant located at a farm near Lake Naivasha, in Kenya.

The 2.4 MW of renewable electricity to be produced will provide power to the local farm and surrounding area. The engines will operate in a combined heat and power (CHP) configuration increasing the overall plant efficiency through the recovery of heat, which will displace diesel normally used in the heating of greenhouses at the farm.

The anaerobic digestion facility will produce biogas, originating from the digestion of food processing wastes coming from the surrounding farms.

Clarke Energy is contracted for the turnkey project to supply, engineer and install CHP generators. The biogas will be fed into 2 x J420 Jenbacher gas engines from GE Power & Water. The engines are specially configured to operate at the high altitude of the project at nearly 6,500 feet above sea level. The gas engines will be configured for cogeneration, with surplus heat recovered as hot water and used for biogas plant process heating and for heating the adjacent greenhouses.

The biogas engines will be supplied as container units for operation in hot and tropical countries. The engines are scheduled for delivery to Kenya in the last quarter of 2013.

Creation of biogas using waste materials will deliver a reliable production of fuel, and using this gas in the Jenbacher gas engines will facilitate a consistent supply of power to the local area. Surplus power will be supplied to the local electricity grid, helping to stabilize it.