Abstract
A prototype power plant could revolutionize on-site generation forbusinesses. The Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Labora-tory teamed with Austin Energy, a municipal utility, to develop thisplant, called an integrated energy system. Burns & McDonnell devel-oped, installed and is testing one of the largest systems in the nation touse a new technology approach: use the waste heat exhaust from a natu-ral-gas–fueled generator as the only fuel source for a chiller that providesair conditioning. Recycling waste heat to power another generator or tohelp run a chiller is not new. What is new is for a chiller of this size tobe fueled by waste heat alone—without any supplemental fuel. Theproject’s chiller, called an absorption chiller, is capable of delivering 2,500tons of chilled water. By design, the full waste heat output of the natural-gas-powered 4.5-MW Solar turbine closely matches the chiller capacity.Operation, which began in June 2004, should verify fuel efficiency of 70%to 80% against 55% efficiency for the best central power plant technologyavailable today. Testing and verification of the skid-mounted designshould lead to adoption of this system in commercial and institutionalsettings
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