100-kWe Woodchip-Fueled ORC Plant

This plant uses as fuel wood chips derived from virgin (i.e. untreated) waste wood from a sawmill. The ORC module and its control panels are hosted under a large lean-to (about 15 x 15 meters) which also hosts the main boiler serving the ORC and the chipping machine, as well as a small accessory boiler not connected to the ORC module. Fuel – scraps of wood and bark shredded into chips by a chipper machine – s instead hosted in a closed metal container about 15m long and 2.6m high located in the open beside the lean-to

The ORC module used here is a ZE-100-LT that has been slightly customized by modifying the control panel setup at the customer’s request, and produces – in nominal conditions – 100 kW electric power when fed 850 kW of thermal power through the customary overheated (160°C) water loop used by all LT-Series modules. You can view and download the datasheet for that system by clicking here .

Cooling for the condensation stage is supplied by an evaporative cooling tower placed outside the lean-to.

175-kWE Biomass-fueled ORC plant

This plant has been designed for primary electric power generation and gets its thermal energy from a boiler fueled by chipped wood, which in turn is obtained as a byproduct of tree pruning. The whole plant is protected inside a large (265m²), closed, purpose-built room. This large open space hosts the ORC module, the biomass boiler that feeds its hot side, the biomass storage area and the biomass loading systems as well as the power grid interface panels and another small boiler used for other purposes and not connected to the ORC module.

The ORC module used in this installation is a standard ZE-175-LT ORC Module which can output, in nominal conditions, up to 175 kW_E of electric power when fed 1280 kW_T of thermal power by the boiler through an overheated water loop at 160°C.

Condensation stage cooling is achieved instead by a cooling tower located outside the building.