The CHiP plant is a Combined Heat and intelligent Power electricity generating plant.
It will be sited at a National Grid gas pressure reduction station (“PRS”), which has a heat requirement as part of its normal process operation; this heating requirement will be met by heat recovered from the CHiP power generation cycle. The process heat is required to counter the Joule-Thomson effect and to ensure that the bulk temperature of the gas remains within the range specified operationally by National Grid1.
The plant comprises a diesel engine in which liquid biomass will be burnt, creating mechanical power to generate electricity. In addition to this, part of the surplus heat released from the engine will also be converted into mechanical work in additional thermodynamic cycles from which more electricity will be produced. The remaining heat will be used to heat natural gas in an adjacent PRS, as part of the normal gas process operating requirement.
Blue-NG calls this system “intelligent” because the maximum output from the plant at periods of maximum consumer demand during a day coincide when the plant is operating at maximum efficiency i.e. early morning and early evening demand increases. The plant can also be operated at maximum output at other times although the efficiency marginally deteriorates because there is a need to consume some energy for ancillary cooling of the engine during those times. This means that the plant can be chosen to run as a baseload or peaking plant to suite the demands of consumers.
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