Canary Islands sewage treatment plant turns waste into energy

Las Palmas de Gran Canario, Canry Islands (Spain), April 28, 2006 - Located in the Atlantic Ocean, opposite the northwestern coast of Africa, the Spanish Canary Islands are a destination for millions of travelers each year.As a collection of islands totaling only 2,875 square miles, disposal of wastewater and solid waste is an environmental and political issue throughout the Canaries. One solution is the new Salto del Negro municipal waste treatment plant in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The plant processes garbage and sewage collected from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a city of 380,000, as well as from several surrounding towns and villages.The waste is processed in a digester which produces methane gas. The gas is used in turn to fuel generators that produce both electricity and heat. The combined heat and power (CHP) system was manufactured by Cummins Power Generation. Catering to the Islands’ needs Waste management is a major problem for any populated area, however, it is especially critical in the Canaries because of the limited space and because tourism makes up over 30 percent of their GDP. “The Canary Islands are known for their unspoiled tropical beauty,” says Jose Melgarejo, business development manager for Cummins Power Generation. “Most visitors aren’t even aware there is a waste treatment plant here, which is exactly what we wanted to accomplish.” Dual-purpose facility The primary purpose of the facility is to process the waste produced by the residents and visitors in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and neighboring cities. “The facility has a processing capacity of 200,000 tons of waste a year. The capacity of the biogas digester is about 75,000 tons of waste a year,” says Melgarejo. The plant is then able to use the biogas (65% methane) produced by the facility’s digester process to power the cogeneration system from Cummins Power Generation. The CHP system uses the digester methane to generate both electric power and heat. The exhaust heat from the engines is used by the treatment plant to accelerate the anaerobic processes in the digesters, while excess electricity not used in the plant is sold to the local utility – earning a biogas-derived electricity premium. The CHP system at the Salto del Negro waste management facility consists of two 1370 kW GQMA low-Btu gas generator sets, a PowerCommand® Digital Master Control and low-voltage switchgear, all built by Cummins Power Generation. These low-Btu generator sets are especially designed to run on dilute solutions of bio-derived methane gasproduced by municipal landfills, sewage digesters and coal seams. A third generator set is scheduled to be added within a year. In addition, Cummins supplied all of the system’s ancillary equipment such as radiators, heat exchangers and expansion tanks, and provided installation supervision and commissioning. For more than 80 years, Cummins Power Generation has been a major force in increasing the availability and reliability of electric power around the world. Its extensive global distributor network delivers innovative power solutions for any on-site power need from remote prime power systems, to clean, energy efficient cogeneration systems, to waste-to energy power systems that extend our natural resources. For more information on waste-to-energy power systems, contact a local Cummins distributor or visit www.cumminspower.com/energysolutions

For More Information Contact

Eunice Kwei-Biritwum Cummins Power Generation 763-574-5571 Eunice.A.Kwei@cummins.com ----------------------------------------

Robert E. Sheldon Creative Communications Consultants, Inc. 612-338-5098 rsheldon@cccinc.com To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.electricenergyonline.com