News

Wasabi Energy updates on its Kalina Cyle activities in Annual Report

Wasabi Energy updates on its Kalina Cyle activities in Annual Report Kalina geothermal power plant, Húsavík, Iceland (source: flickr/ ThinkGeoEnergy, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 31 Aug 2011

Australian Wasabi Energy provides an operational update on its activities with the Kalina Cycle technology via its fully owned subsidiary Global Geothermal and Recurrent Engineering.

In a review on its operations as part of its Annual Report Wasabi Energy provides details on its activities in the geothermal world and its Kalina technology.

Its subsidiary, “Global Geothermal Limited (“GGL”) achieved a number of significant milestones during the year. GGL holds the intellectual property and engineering capability, through the wholly owned subsidiary Recurrent Engineering LLC, for the Kalina Cycle(R) power technology. The Kalina Cycle(R) power technology takes lowgrade heat and turns it into power. Wasabi Energy continued to progress toward its 100% ownership of GGL and we have in place an agreement to conclude that arrangement.

The strategy for the Kalina Cycle(R) power technology is twofold; firstly to continue to develop key industry or regional licensees to accelerate the implementation of the technology, and secondly, to build, own and operate our own plants to be an independent power producer. We are focused on two market areas; Enhanced Energy Efficiency, through the capture of industrial waste heat, and Renewable Energy Generation, extracting heat from renewable sources such as geothermal and solar thermal.

Our Chinese licensee, Shanghai Shenghe New Energy Resources and Technology (“SSNE”) powered the Shanghai Pavillion at the World Expo through using Kalina Cycle(R) Power technology from solar thermal heat sources. They continued to develop their strategy with the development of a state of the art testing and laboratory facility which will assist in the testing of major components including 1:1 scale heat exchangers and turbine assembly along with full factory testing capability for the Kalina Cycle(R) power system with rated power outputs of up to 5,200 kW.

The facility will also incorporate a Kalina Cycle(R) power plant simulator that will assist in operator training and process improvements. SSNE also conducted a successful field evaluation in Taiwan of the Kalina Cycle(R) power technology against a competitor technology. The field performance test demonstrated that the Kalina Cycle(R) power technology was more efficient in producing power and was more reliable. SSNE is in discussions with Taiwan’s Bureau of Energy for a Kalina Cycle(R) power plant. Through the development of the Kalina Cycle(R) power plant for the World Expo pavilion, SSNE have been contracted to complete the second Eco-Gen Kalina Cycle(R) power plant for small scale hot springs in Japan. SSNE are finalising the completion of the unit which will be delivered in the second half of 2011.
SSNE are continuing to pursue industrial waste heat applications and are in discussions with major petrochemical, cement and power companies.

In January 2011, we announced a contract with FLSmidth, a global provider to the cement and lime industries, at the DG Khan cement plant in Khairpur, Pakistan. The contract is for the engineering and procurement of an 8,600 kW Kalina Cycle(R) power plant which is due for completion in early 2012.

In June we also announced a global license agreement with FLSmidth. This agreement will see the rapid global deployment of Kalina Cycle(R) power plants into the energy intensive cement and lime industries. We are well advanced in the engineering of two plants and there is a pipeline of over 10 plants that are under review. Under the license agreement GGL receives an upfront fee for training and technology transfer and then a royalty for each kilowatt of installed power capacity.

Other contracts underway within GGL include the Eco-Gen Kalina Cycle(R) units for the Geothermal Energy Research & Development Co Ltd (“GERD”) in Japan. The units have been developed specifically for the Japanese hot spring market and other low enthalpy geothermal markets. GERD has two units under production and there have been significant improvements to the units in their design and operational efficiency. The first unit will be installed in Japan in late 2011. Both Kalina Cycle(R) power plants will be installed as power demonstration plants in Japan. Power issues are at the forefront following the recent earthquake and the resultant power shortages. Based on estimates by GERD and GGL the existing Japanese hot spring market could potentially sustain more than 14,000 Eco-Gen Kalina Cycle(R) power units. The enhanced thermodynamics of the Kalina Cycle(R) combined with the cascaded utilisation of the hot spring water as proposed by GERD represents approximately 718 MW of power generation potential from the hot springs.

Our build, own, operate strategy also progressed with two plants announced. At Husavik, Iceland, we have purchased a Kalina Cycle(R) power plant in which a lack of correct maintenance and operating procedures had led to mechanical failures. GGL are in the process of repowering the 2,000 kW Kalina Cycle(R) power plant that will commence operations in early 2012. The power will be sold to a local power provider. In addition, the plant provides heat for the nearby city.

In conjunction with our licensee, Exorka, we announced in June 2011 a build, own, operate plant with its parent Geysir and the Swiss utility, AXPO. The 4,500 kW Kalina Cycle(R) power plant will use geothermal fluids to produce both power and town heating. Drilling at the site is underway and we expect the plant to be completed in 2013. Wasabi Energy will earn up to 15% of the project equity through the provision of the power plant.

The ongoing demand for power and the focus on technologies to reduce greenhouse emissions have resulted in an increase in the number of opportunities for Kalina Cycle(R) power plants. We are in discussions with major companies in the petrochemical, steel and mining industries for potential power plants. In addition, we have focussed marketing efforts in South Africa and Turkey for build, own, operate opportunities.

In the coming year our efforts are concentrated on the successful commissioning of the GERD units, Khaipur and Husavik Kalina Cycle(R) power plants, as well as supporting the growing business development pipeline. We have opened a new office in Houston, USA and have grown our engineering team to meet the demand. We are continually enhancing our intellectual property and maintaining our broad patent portfolio.”

Source: Company details via Utility Products