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Thai Jenbacher Distributor Souer Co. Ltd. visiting Nongbua Plant

A team from Souer Co., Ltd., led by Managing Director Mrs. Namtip Duffield and Operations Manager Mr. David Shelly, has been visiting Gussing Renewable Energy’s Community Power Plant in Nongbua, Nakhon Sawan, on August 28th, 2019. Souer, operating from its Headquarter in Phitsanulok, is the distributor for Jenbacher Engines and Gen-Sets in Thailand since 2016.

Gussing Renewable Energy and Jenbacher are close partners for more than 18 years already. In the sister plant in Gussing, Austria, Gussing Renewable Energy and Jenbacher worked together to generate and collect information from operating a Jenbacher 620 Gen-Set fueled by the product of the Dual Fluidized Bed Gasifier for almost 100.000 hours. With the Syngas from Biomass Gasification both companies were able to achieve great results and improvements regarding output and runtime hours.

Both Souer and Gussing Renewable Energy presented their Thai operations after which a future potential cooperation for pipeline projects was discussed.

The visit was concluded with a detailed tour through the Nongbua plant explaining the process and key features as well as the interlink with the Gas Engine which is turning the Syngas into Electricity.

Plant blessing ceremony by the Lord Abbott of Wat Sutthawas

Nong Bua December 18th 2018
To pay respect to local ancient traditions and in our firm believe that precise planning, immaculate preparation and expertise still requires blessing from above to achieve holistic and lasting results, we asked the Lord Abbot of Wat Sutthawas, the revered Prakru Som to kindly visit our plant and accept our alms.

After the traditional ceremony and chanting in Sanskrit Prakru Som blessed the team and the installed equipment with sacred water, before his departure marking both control room and engine generator with his personal good luck in script. Our team went well motivated to work and we started the process in optimism. We would not be disappointed!

Successful SCOD of 1.0 MWel plant, Nong Bua, Nakhon Sawan, Thailand

Under careful supervision of the Provincial Electric Authority (PEA) we conducted on 21st of November the performance and grid connection tests under the SCOD (Scheduled Commercial Operation Date) protocol.

During these tests the gasification plant is running at 100% capacity, generating syngas and providing it to the gas engine, where the power is generated and supplied to the national grid. Several safety tests are being performed, simulating “live” situations where suddenly the grid becomes unavailable and how well the plant is able to perform under such emergency situations.

These tests have all been performed well and all milestones in the protocol were achieved and the necessary certificate has been issued by PEA and awarded to GRE and the project host Nong Bua Green Power Co. Ltd., another important milestone has been reached!

After the traditional ceremony and chanting in Sanskrit Prakru Som blessed the team and the installed equipment with sacred water, before his departure marking both control room and engine generator with his personal good luck in script. Our team went well motivated to work and we started the process in optimism. We would not be disappointed!

CATERPILLAR and METRO MACHINERY arrive for engine optimization.

In Nong Bua we are entering in great confidence unchartered territory by utilizing our syngas in a CATERPILLAR syngas engine. The first time this is being done worldwide! The syngas is being the engine’s fuel to generate electric power. Other than with fossil gas, the supply of syngas poses challenges to engines in impurity and variations in composition. To deal with these factors special settings and fuel map programming is being scheduled to optimize the engine in synchronization with the gasification plant.

After stabilizing the engine without any hiccups in the range of 200 to 500 KW at 50% load factor, we enter more challenging levels, especially when pushing both systems to their maximum output.

Within 36 hours we were able to stabilize the engine up to 950 KW in continuous generating mode, being able to operate it fully automated and integrated into the overall plant control system from our command room.

As final leg we run both, the engine and the gasifier into 100% load reaching power peaks at the engine of 1.250 KW recorded in the log sheet. This evening was celebrated with lots of Joy! A big thank you to the local team of MMC and the American syngas specialist from CAT in Lafayette U.S.A.

We are looking forward to continue this great work in 2019 and tune the engine further for increased output at stable operating condition and new fuels.

Successful SCOD of 1.0 MWel plant, Nong Bua, Nakhon Sawan, Thailand

After SCOD tests the next milestones to reach were performance tests with and without back up power. Our operating team with specialists supporting us from Austria and the United States, started the gasifier and took the plant first, with support by co-firing Diesel to 500 KW.

After stabilizing it and conducting further tests, we pushed the system stand-alone, purely with wood chips as biomass fuel to 90% load, generating continuously well over 1.150 KW! This is 15% higher than what was originally to be expected and proofs very promising for the future of GRE ASIA and CATERPILLAR!

Based on these great results the final step in the official certification and grid connection process has been initiated, receiving the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved COD certificate, again from the hands of the PEA. This is a formal confirmation of power generation capacity of over 1.100 KW and next export capacity of 950 KW into the national grid.