Innovative On-site Integrated Energy System Tested

ABSTRACT A prototype power plant could revolutionize on-site generation for businesses. The Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory teamed with Austin Energy, a municipal utility, to develop this plant, called an integrated energy system. Burns & McDonnell developed, installed and is testing one of the largest systems in the nation to use a new technology approach: use the waste heat exhaust from a natural-gas-fueled generator as the only fuel source for a chiller that provides air conditioning. Recycling waste heat to power another generator or to help run a chiller is not new. What is new is for a chiller of this size to be fueled by waste heat alone—without any supplemental fuel. The project's chiller, called an absorption chiller, is capable of delivering 2,500 tons of chilled water. By design, the full waste heat output of the naturalgas-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% ag...