RENEWABLE ENERGY TO THE GRID THAN IT USES

Volvo Builds New Battery Plant Investment

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) has invested US$7.8 million in battery pack production at its manufacturing plant in Changwon, South Korea.

This new investment will enable the building of a new production facility at the Changwon plant in South Korea. The plant – which is already one of the largest production sites run by Volvo CE, producing around 55% of its total excavator volumes – is already 1.1 million square metres in size.

Once complete the facility will be approximately 2,500 sq. metres including assembly and logistics areas.

The new facility will produce a wide range of common electric storage solutions battery packs - for Volvo. This will enable Volvo Group to offer more sustainable solutions to its Asia-Pacific markets in a more flexible, cost-effective and agile way and will include supply chain, manufacturing and logistics.

“As the largest plant in Volvo CE, Changwon is at the forefront of our shift to a sustainable future,” said Andy Knight, MD of Volvo Group Korea. This investment is an important milestone in our electrification roadmap and supports our recent investments in production facilities.”

Veolia has passed a new milestone for delivering net zero power by delivering more than six times the renewable electricity to the grid than it uses across its 400 offices and sites across the UK.

By generating 856 GWh of electricity using a combination of biomass, landfill gas, biogas and Energy Recovery facilities (ERF), that qualify under the Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) scheme, the company is able to supply a secure annual equivalent to power 240,000 homes.

This exported electricity adds to the 2.5TWh of CHP, low carbon and renewable generation that serves around 500 customer sites spanning the industrial, healthcare, water, leisure, district heating, education and retail sectors.

This output includes 134MWe of generation capacity using biogas, biomass, and solar sources which save around 200,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year for Veolia’s customers.

An added benefit of this electricity is the cogeneration of green heat with some of the plants supplying communities and businesses using district heating networks.

These deliver around 2 GWh of heat equivalent to the heating needed for 120,000 homes. As an estimated 20% of the nation’s carbon emissions are generated by domestic heating, due to a low standard of energy efficiency, using district heating from these sources lowers carbon emissions and can help reduce cost, and fuel poverty, in vulnerable groups.

Commenting on the achievement, Gavin Graveson, Veolia Senior Executive Vice President Northern Europe Zone said; “Energy market volatility, and the ability to deliver stable power has highlighted the importance of reliable sources of energy that can support our modern lives and the UK power infrastructure. By actively developing renewable and low carbon generation we can already produce the affordable and sustainable energy that is essential to support communities and businesses.

“As more baseload generators such as nuclear, coal and CCGTs retire, stable renewable sources are set to play an increasingly important role.”

35MW POWER PLANT GENSETS FOR THE NATIONAL GRID BASED IN N’DJAMENA, CHAD

In Chad, Central Africa, MAN Energy will supply 4 × 18V32/40 CD engines to a new power plant providing a total of 35 MW to the national grid. The polant is currently under construction north of national capital, N’Djamena, and the transport of the plant’s heavy duty engines and auxiliary equipment over more than 1,800 kilometres by truck from the port city of Douala, Cameroon, will prove a particularly challenging task.

“Currently, just 10% of Chadians have access to electricity. We are proud that we can now make a significant contribution to the electrification of the country with our engines in this new plant,” said Ghassan Saab, Head of Power, MEA Region at MAN Energy Solutions.

The four 18V32/40 CD engines will form the energy generation system for a new power plant facility he technical data of the engine at ISO condition 3 can be summarized in the following table from the manufacturer:

The MAN engine 18V32/40 is a fourstroke, medium-speed diesel engine, turbocharged and charge air-cooled. The engine can run on heavy fuel oil.

Compared to other medium-speed engines, within the same power range, the 18V32/40 produces high power from a compact, efficient design.

− Cylinder bore 320 mm

− Piston stroke 400 mm

− Engine speed 750 min-1

− Piston speed 10 m/s

− Mean effective pressure 24,9 bar

The engine family has a well-proven service record in marine propulsion, marine auxiliary genset and stationary power generation. 32/40 engines from MAN have been in service since 1994 and are subject to continuous development to ensure reliability under the most severe service conditions.

The generating sets are designed for power generation in continuous, durable and safe operation. The area of application comprises ranges from supplies of basic loads in public mains or coverage of peak loads to isolated applications for industrial consumers. Engine and alternator are mounted on a common steel foundation frame. The engine is said to be ‘resiliently mounted on the frame by rubber elements’, whereas the alternator is rigidly-mounted’. Engine and alternator are flexibly coupled. The steel foundation frame is placed rigidly and grouted on a simple concrete foundation plate for extra stability.