Siemens Energy has been selected by US-based energy specialists Northeast Energy Center (NEC) and Chart Energy & Chemicals to supply a gas/electric hybrid drive system for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant being built in Charlton, Massachusetts.
As the world’s first LNG plant to incorporate a gas/electric hybrid drive system, the NEC project will source all parts of the integrated drive from Siemens, combining a low-emissions industrial gas turbine and integrally geared compressor with an electric motor-generator.
By opting for a hybrid system, NEC claims it will reduce emissions and costs while increasing efficiency of the plant’s main refrigeration/liquefaction train throughout the year.
In conventional systems, power is often wasted due to oversized gas turbines generating much more power during cold periods than is required. According to Siemens, the hybrid solution provides NEC an ‘active and powerful’ tool in demand side management, reducing its costs and the need to purchase power from the grid, while allowing the sale of power back to the utility.
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