AT the Pacific Power Association’s Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition at Crowne Plaza Resort on Tuesday, ElectraTherm Business Development Analyst David Knight made a presentation on the recent completion of a waste heat-to-energy production system on Pohnpei.
According to Knight, Pohnpei now has three Organic Rankine Cycle or ORC systems which are connected to the island’s existing diesel engine generator.
These ORC systems take the waste heat from the engine exhaust and jacket water and turn that energy into power for the island, Knight said. The ORC systems are inside shipping containers and were originally manufactured in the Czech Republic. They produce an additional 200kw of energy with no new input of fuel to the original generator, Knight said.
“You’re generating more power for the same amount of fuel you’re using in your engine,” he said, adding that engines can lose 35% of energy in exhaust heat.
The funding for the $2.7 million project came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Utilities Service High Energy Cost Grant Program.
During his presentation, Knight shared a variety of reasons for using containers to hold the ORC system. He said keeping the systems in containers makes shipping and installing them easier and reduces the need for creating a new building.
He said leaving the systems in containers also protects them from typhoons. The containers can be tied down to large concrete blocks in the event of adverse weather, he added.
The project began in 2017 with a preliminary proposal submitted by the Federated States of Micronesia government.
The ORC systems were created through 2020 but production slowed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2022, ElectraTherm was given access to the job site, and in September of that year began construction of the installation. The project installation was completed in January 2023, and commissioning of the systems occurred in March.
The theme for this year’s PPA Annual Conference is “Technology and Finance Readiness for a Green, Sustainable and Resilient Power System Network.”
Knight spent part of his presentation explaining why power produced by engines is a realistic part of energy generation in this region of the world.
“Engines will remain a big part of power generation in the Pacific,” Knight said. “The main reason is you cannot produce power–reliable base load power–from a small footprint without there being a thermal power station. In other words, a combination of wind, solar PV, and batteries in the same plot of land will not give you the same amount of power, and we all need power. The use of power is growing,” he added.
Knight said although engines use fossil fuels, they are not the “boogeyman.”
“In the future our engines will be sustainable,” Knight said, adding that diesel replacements, hydrogen, ammonia, and green methanol could replace the current sources of fuel in engines.
He said with good data collection of existing ORC systems in the Pacific, as well as “fair” contracts and good communication between governments and ElectraTherm, more islands could have ORC systems in place.
The PPA Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition continues until Sept. 28. On island for the conference are representatives from 19 Pacific countries and jurisdictions.
Representatives from 19 Pacific island countries and jurisdictions are on Saipan for the Pacific Power Association’s Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition at the Crowne Plaza Resort.
ElectraTherm Business Development Analyst David Knight — not in photo — explains the benefits of using shipping containers to house an Organic Rankine Cycle system as depicted in this image.
ElectraTherm Business Development Analyst David Knight makes a presentation at the Pacific Power Association’s Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition at the Crowne Plaza Resort.
