Small CHP Unit Installed in Vratitza textile factory, Bulgaria
• Energy • Industry • South-East European INDUSTRIAL Мarket - issue 2/2010
A gas-fired SSCHP was installed in a private textile/knitwear factory in Bulgaria—Vratitza Joint Stock Company. The unit has a 519 kW electrical capacity and a 653 kW thermal capacity. The main aim of the project is to improve the energy situation of the factory, to reduce energy costs and therefore – to improve the economic/financial results and competitiveness of production.
Vratitza JS
Vratitza JS is a factory for producing yarns, fabrics and finished garments - bed linen, clothing, home interior articles. There are several production departments - spinning, weaving, finishing & printing, sewing production, and apart from space heating there is all-year round consumption of heat for technological purposes. This makes the factory particularly suitable for CHP introduction, as it will increase the operational hours of the installation and therefore, the economic results and profitability of the project. The factory has almost 1400 employees in total and an overall annual turnover of about 9 MEuro. The major share of sales (about 70 %) is exports to EU - Italy, Sweden, Greece, etc.
Process
The CHP unit CAT 500 SP+E manufactured by the Check company TEDOM, was installed in the factory. The supplier company is Chime Ltd., Bulgaria, providing a turn-key project - feasibility analysis, design, instillation, commissioning, tuning/adjustments and maintenance of the CHP unit.
The CHP unit is designed to operate all-year-round (over 6000 hours/annum) supplying heat for technological purposes of production departments as well as for domestic hot water production and for space heating (during wintertime) of factory premises. The CHP unit is connected in parallel to the national electricity grid - in average about 60 % of co generated electricity is self-consumed, the rest is sold to the national grid. So far the CHP unit has over 5000 operational hours proofing the calculated benefits.
CAT 500 is a gas fired CHP unit with consumption of natural gas – 144 Nm3/hour at 100 % capacity utilization and 113 Nm3/hour at 75 % capacity utilization. It has a block configuration containing a Caterpillar genset (gas combustion engine type G 3508 and a 400V, 50 Hz generator). The system has an overall efficiency of 86,0 % and ensures fully automatic unmanned operating and permanent automatic diagnosis of its condition. There is also control and power switchboard mounted at the unit. The heat equipment includes exhaust silencer and anti-noise canopy.
Financial resources and partners
The overall project costs are about 335 000 Euro of which the price of the CHP unit is about 320 000 Euro. The rest is the costs of necessary construction works and of testing, tuning and commissioning of the unit. These costs are covered with factory’s own funds.
Sofia Energy Centre undertook the promotion and dissemination of information about the success of the project within OPET CHP/DH project activities.
Results
The calculation at current prices of electricity, heat and natural gas in Bulgaria show the following main results of project economic evaluation at 6000 operational hours/annum:
• Annual profit from the CHP installation– about 105 000 Euro;
• Simple payback - about 3 years;
Investment payback would go to about 4 years at leasing conditions. It is evident that presuming project lifetime of about 20 years (equipment life-time given by the manufacturer with two major overhauls) the profitability of the SSCHP project is very high provided that the company keeps stable market share and economic and financial performance. It will additionally increase in view of expected energy price increases till 2005 when they will be fully liberalized and market-determined.
Source: Sofia Energy Centre
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