The agreement represents a push by Drivetrain to expand its energy efficiency, cogeneration, trigeneration, remote power generation and renewable energy capabilities in the region.

The company is already engaged in these areas in Australia, with its most recent project located at an aquatic centre based in Victoria, supplying electricity and heat to the site’s facilities.

The agreement includes the installation of a 264 kilowatt (kW) Guascor Power, natural gas-fuelled cogeneration plant, which will provide approximately 74percent of the site’s electrical needs. It will also deliver heat to the pools, which would otherwise be wasted in conventional generation techniques.

With subsidiaries and distributors in 43 countries, Guascor Power produces a range of liquid, gas, dual fuel and biofuel engines for distributed and stationary power generation, as well as marine power and propulsion applications. To date, the total installed capacity of Guascor Power generators around the world exceeds 1.35 gigawatts.

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Drivetrain has operations in Australasia, Europe and the United States, and employs over 200 people, and currently generates in excess of $100 million in annual revenue.

Meanwhile in Catalonia, Spain, Guascor’s cogeneration engines have been producing energy to power demand at the Can Barba Composting plant since 2006.

The Can Barba Biomethanisation and Composting Plant, Spain.

The project

The biomethanisation and composting facilities that process the organic matter from municipal solid waste produced by the Vallés Occidental region have a treatment capacity of 25,000 tonnes per year. From this, compost and biogas are obtained. The biogas production is estimated at 3,500,000 normal cubic metres – a sufficient amount to meet the power demand at the plant, with the surplus sold to the power grid.

The works required an investment of $20,641,506 (€ 12,800,000). They were funded in part (80 per cent) by the local government, employing the European Union Cohesion Funds. The remaining 20 per cent was provided by the Waste Agency of Catalonia. The plant was built by the consortium formed by the companies Cespa GR and Acsa.

Energy recovery system

Energy is recovered from the biogas by means of two Guascor SFGLD360/55 biogas-fired combustion engines, which produce electricity and heat.

The two 625 kW Guascor motor generating sets are installed in metal containers and equipment with all the necessary regulating, monitoring, cooling and soundproofing equipment. The sets are also able to burn natural gas to ensure continual operation if the biogas production is insufficient.

The electricity produced by the engines is employed in both the waste-treatment and the combined heat and power plant. The surplus supply is exported to the grid through a transformer station. The waste heat from the exhaust gas from one of the engines is used in the biomethanisation process, by means of a series of heat exchangers.

A high temperature safety flare is installed to ensure complete combustion of the biogas in case of failure of the engines or maintenance shutdowns, in order to prevent the biogas from escaping into the atmosphere.

The Can Barba Biomethanisation and Composting Plant, Spain.

Location: Vallés Occidental, Barcelona

Capacity: 1.25 MW

Average biogas production:134 Nm3/t

Commissioned: 2006

Capital cost: $20,352,000 (€12,800,000)*

Fuel source: Biogas from municipal solid waste.

*Based on October 2007 currency conversion rates.