Waste heat to be tapped
A Calgary company that specializes in alternative energy production is preparing to tap into the waste heat from a Nordegg-area gas plant. And a company spokesperson hinted that other, similar projects could follow.
Genalta Power Inc. plans to build a power generation plant at the Stolberg Dehydration and Compression Facility, which is located about 90 km west of Rocky Mountain House. Owned and operated by Husky Oil Operations Ltd., the Stolberg facility removes water from natural gas and also compresses the gas for transmission.
Genalta will capture turbine waste heat from the plant and convert it into electricity. It expects to generate one megawatt of power — roughly the equivalent of the electricity used by 1,000 average homes — with this to be used in the Stolberg plant’s operations.
The power generation plant is expected to be operational by the middle of 2013. Genalta will design, construct, own and operate it.
The company is involved in other projects elsewhere in North America.
“We typically do three types of waste energy recovery,” said company spokesperson Barbara Baker. “We do waste heat recovery, such as this one, and we also do waste pressure and waste fuel.”
Although Genalta focuses on plants in the oil and gas sector, it’s active in a number of industries — such as chemical and steel production — where there is waste heat, waste pressure or waste fuel.
“Any large industrial users who have waste energy are ones we’re looking at doing business with,” said Baker.
Alberta presents huge opportunities for Genalta, she added.
“We’re planning to do a lot of waste energy recovery across Alberta.
“Our ambition is to turn virtually all of the large flaring in Alberta into power.”
hrichards@reddeeradvocate.com
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