Blue-NG’s first two sites will be based on our CHiP configuration.  However, the Blue-NG aim, of maximising the renewable generating capacity of Britain’s gas network, could be met more efficiently in the future in a number of ways.

District or process heating
Despite the high efficiency of the CHiP plant, there is still an element of wasted heat from the engines which could be used to heat local housing, commerce and industry. Wherever there is an appropriate heating requirement in close proximity to one of our sites (or a potential site) we will be exploring this opportunity.

Alternative fuels
As explained on under ‘From PRS to world class renewable energy CHP’, we have determined that the best renewable source of energy at our CHiP units is currently liquid biomass. Advancements in the arena of biomass generation are likely to lead to more sustainable and efficient fuels in the future. Blue-NG are seeking to utilise a portfolio of sustainably sourced fuel solutions including e.g. biogas from waste and in the future second generation liquid fuels.

Cooling and Refrigeration
The CHiP configuration is based on pre-heating the gas stream which then transfers this heat energy to a turbine to generate power. In this way the gas stream temperature does not drop to an unacceptable level. However, if no pre-heat is applied, the gas stream temperature would drop, and (once the gas pipes are engineered to manage the low temperatures) can then be used to generate useful cooling (known as Coolth). This is an important development as cooling (of air or fluids) uses many times more energy than heating. Wherever there is an appropriate cooling requirement in close proximity to one of our sites (or a potential site) we will be exploring this opportunity.

The chart below demonstrates the difference between the gas temperatures with the current CHiP configuration and Coolth. The red line shows the initial temperature of the gas. The blue line shows what happens to the gas temperature as it passes through the CHiP engines and the turbine – the gas is heated by the engines, and then the turbine extracts the added heat and converts it to electrical energy. The gas stream cools back to its original temperature as the electricity is generated.

With a Coolth configuration, the gas steam is not heated, and so it cools as it passes through the turbine (green line). This colder gas can then be used to cool a refrigeration fluid, as it does so the gas temperature will increase back to its original temperature.