GE Energy’s Jenbacher Engines Power Poland’s Largest Biogas Plant

GE Energy will supply two containerized cogeneration power plants including its ecomaginationSM-certified Jenbacher biogas engines that will operate at an existing bioethanol plant in the city of Liszkowo, 250 kilometers northwest of Poland’s capital of Warsaw (Warszawa).

The biogas cogeneration plant’s owner, Agrogaz Sp. zo.o, is eligible for Poland’s green certificates program, under which the country awards fixed feed-in tariffs for each megawatt (MW) hour generated from a renewable energy source.

The 2.18-MW cogeneration plant will utilize biogas mainly created from the fermentation of the Gorzelnia Liszkowo factory’s own residual bioethanol production to generate electricity, hot water and steam, which will then support the factory’s production processes. The project, expected to be commissioned in July 2008, represents Poland’s currently largest biogas power plant.

“This is an important project to showcase GE’s Jenbacher biogas engine capabilities, illustrating the potential of biogas and cogeneration opportunities in Poland that can help support the country’s, and the European Union’s, emissions-reduction initiatives,” said Prady Iyyanki, CEO of GE Energy’s Jenbacher gas engine business.

Agrogaz is a Polish joint venture between Regensburg-based KG Aufwind Schmack GmbH Neue Energien and Polish energy provider Polenergia. KG Aufwind Schmack, the factory power project’s developer, is a partner of Schmack Biogas AG of Schwandorf, Germany, a leading German supplier of biogas plants.

KWE-Technika Energetyczna Sp. zo.o., GE’s authorized distributor of Jenbacher gas engines in Poland, recently sold the two containerized JMC 320 GS-B.L Jenbacher units to developer KG Aufwind Schmack in September 2007.

GE Energy’s Jenbacher gas engine business is a leading manufacturer of gas-fueled reciprocating engines, packaged generator sets and cogeneration systems for power generation. GE’s Jenbacher gas engines run on natural gas or a variety of specialty waste gases, including biogas and landfill gas.