ENERGYEco-friendly hydro plant expandsA big expansion of the London District Energy plant will essentially make the city's core self-sufficient in clean electric power. HANK DANISZEWSKI |
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Derek Macartney, general manager of London District Energy, has a look at the pipes installed in the new addition to the Colborne Street plant yesterday. A super-efficient gas-fired turbine is being installed that will boost power production to 18 megawatts from three.
The co-generation process at the plant uses surplus heat from the turbine to help power a system that supplies steam heat and cooling to major buildings.
General manager Derek Macartney said the centralized heating and cooling system is much more energy-efficient than boiler systems in individual buildings.
"We all want to go green. We are doing that right here for the whole downtown,'' he said.
The first centralized heating and cooling system began operating in downtown London in 1879 and is believed to have been the first in the country, Macartney said.
The old method is growing in popularity because of the demand for energy efficiency, he said.
"It's in the right place at the right time -- it's back to the future."
Power from the plant will not go directly downtown, but be fed into the provincial grid under contract with the Ontario Power Authority.
But generating power close to consumers makes more sense than bringing it in from a distant plant, Macartney said .
"Those electrons get to you really quick. There are no losses on the line along the way.''
The plant has gone through a number of owners and name changes in recent years. Last year it was acquired by Fort Chicago Energy Partners, a Calgary-based company with major pipeline and natural gas holdings.
The new gas turbine at the expanded plant is similar to those found in jet airplanes, but burns natural gas at extreme temperatures with almost no emissions.
The heat and gas coming off the turbine is used to fire more steam turbines that generate more electricity and low-pressure steam distributed to downtown consumers.
Some of the steam is diverted to a cooling tower where it is converted to chilled water and piped out to air condition downtown buildings.
Because the power plant is highly automated it will only employ about a dozen skilled workers.
London District Energy has between 70 to 80 customers. They include Galleria London, City Centre, London city hall, the courthouse and the Hilton hotel.
The plant has a number of backup systems and reserve fuel supplies in the event of a disruption, Macartney said.
The company's steam pipes were the only service that survived when a huge sinkhole appeared at the corner of Dundas and Wellington streets last fall, he said.
About a year ago the company announced Union Gas would build a new natural gas line across southeast London to meet the needs of the expanded plant.
But Macartney said a new pipeline would have caused some disruption along Hamilton Road. Union Gas found a way to upgrade the existing line instead, but that process has caused some delays for the project.
Union Gas continues final work on the pipeline. The expanded plant should go into full operation sometime this fall.
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