The path has been cleared for Pengrowth Energy Corporation and Genalta Power Systems to introduce green power to the region.Last month, Mountain View County approved a development permit for the two companies to install eight small electric generators within the Olds Gas Plant, located south of Olds about two kilometres west of Highway 2A on the north side of Twp. Rd. 322, to convert waste energy to electricity.The generators will be housed in a new 1,500-square foot building. The cost of the project is estimated to be about $6.8 million, which is being offset by a $1.9 million grant awarded to Genalta by the Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC). The CCEMC is a program that encourages the development of technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.The partnership and agreement between the two companies will have Genalta Power installing and operating the power plant in exchange for a long-term power purchase deal with Pengrowth, the minority stakeholder, for on-site power use.The two companies are working together to utilize the waste as a way to reduce greenhouse emissions, improve energy efficiency and lower operating costs. The green power project will also reduce Pengrowth's reliance on the electricity generated from coal and natural gas.Construction for the new project is expected to begin in December and be operational by March 2013.“It's new technology that has never been used in this sour gas application,” said Mark Hornyansky, senior facilities engineer for Pengrowth. “This is a great story in terms of waste energy harnessed into power. It's a new direction and presents lots of opportunities in the oil and gas industry. We need more energy power. Prices are going up.”Hornyansky and Harley Allen, senior account manager for Genalta, said the new proposed generators would not produce any new emissions. They added existing waste energy would be utilized to generate electricity with no incremental fuels being burned.All of the electricity generated at the Olds plant will be transferred to the local distribution grid.“This will offset our power consumption,” said Hornyansky. “This is extra electricity that could power 1,000 homes.”According to a technical pamphlet on the new technology, there will be two waste energy to power projects at the Olds Gas Plant – waste heat and waste pressure.The waste heat project, using the Organic Rankine Cycle process, is designed to capture energy from three different sources to heat a non-hazardous, non-environmentally damaging working fluid.The waste pressure project will capture energy from fluids that are reduced in pressure at the plant. Instead of dropping the pressure through a valve, the pressure will be reduced through two small turbines to generate electricity.“We are confident in the technology but this is the first time it has been done,” said Hornyansky. “In Olds we are there for the long term. This is a way to improve our operations and efficiency.”The Olds initiative, which will produce one megawatt of energy, coincides with the two companies' $8-million project at Judy Creek in the Swan Hills area. That project, which will be operational at about the same time as the one in Olds, is designed to capture waste heat from exhaust gases, with an ultimate objective of converting it to electrical power. The Judy Creek project is expected to produce about two megawatts of power, twice that of the new Olds project.
