RENEWABLE energy firm Enerji says an agreement with Horizon Power to install its waste heat conversion technology at Horizon’s Carnarvon power station will demonstrate its cost saving capabilities and provide impetus to commercialise the equipment.
Enerji’s technology, called the Powerbox, works by capturing waste heat produced via industrial processes, including power generation, and converting it to electricity.
Applied to a diesel generator, the Powerbox can provide an 8-10 per cent saving on fuel, making it particularly attractive for remote mine sites powered by diesel generators, which are typically only 38-40 per cent efficient.
The Powerbox can be applied to any industrial process that produces heat, including waste heat from brick kilns, aluminium refineries, steel smelters, silicon plants, foundries, as well as power generators.
Swedish company Opcon developed the technology and Enerji has the exclusive rights to distribute it in Australia, and holds options for Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and sub-Saharan Africa.
Enerji managing director Greg Pennefather said the agreement signed early this month with Horizon Power to integrate Enerji’s Opcon Powerbox into Horizon’s Carnarvon power station was a significant step forward in the firm’s efforts to commercialise the Powerbox.
Enerji has built up a pipeline of small and large mining and power generation companies interested in the concept, but had not yet committed to the technology, Mr Pennefather said.
“Up until now a lot of them have been looking around and wondering who was going to go first,” he said.
“We now know who is going to go first, and I think the other important thing that we’ve done recently is we’ve signed an agreement with Lang O’Rourke as our preferred construction partner.
“They give us and our future customers a great deal of comfort that construction will be done properly.
“They’ve worked for the likes of Rio Tinto and BHP, so if we have to go onto one of their sites, our construction partner has all the necessary approvals and training to basically get on there straight away.”
