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Siemens Energy has signed an agreement with Canada-based TC Energy Corporation to commission a waste heat-to-power pilot installation in Alberta. The facility will capture waste heat from a gas-fired turbine operating at a pipeline compression station and convert it into emissions-free power. The electricity produced will be put back into the grid, resulting in estimated greenhouse gas reductions of 44,000 tons per year.
As part of the agreement with TC Energy, Siemens Energy will build, own, and operate the facility, with the option for ownership to be transferred back to TC Energy at a later date.
At the heart of the facility will be an heat recovery process designed by Siemens Energy. The patented technology, licensed under Echogen Intellectual Property, is based on an advanced Rankine Cycle and uses supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) as the working fluid to convert waste heat into power. Because of its properties, sCO2 can interact more directly with the heat source than water/steam, eliminating the need for a secondary thermal loop, typically required in traditional waste heat recovery systems.