The soon to be completed Rydges Hotel at Sydney Airport will install a natural gas-fired cogeneration unit in a bid to reduce energy costs.
Designed and installed by Simons Green Energy, the cogeneration plant will be made up of a 70kW reciprocating gas engine and hot water storage tanks.
Installation of the cogeneration unit will reduce the hotel’s energy costs significantly and its energy usage by 360,000kWh per year.
It will provide a portion of the hotel’s electricity demands and utilise the waste heat to provide hot water for the hotel’s domestic and kitchen requirements.
The unit will be configured to run parallel to the grid and in the event of a grid failure it will supply emergency power for selected services within the hotel, due to open in mid 2013.
The cogeneration system will be cleaner than coal-fired grid-supplied electricity, reducing carbon emissions by 191 tonnes per annum.
The hot water will be produced for “free” from the waste heat of the cogeneration plant.
The engineering team from Simons Green Energy is working closely with the asset owners, Sydney International Airport Hotel, developer the Denwol Group and the appointed contractor Lipman to ensure a smooth installation.
Denwol Group director Phillip Wolanski said green initiatives should be practical which means a strong environmental outcome coupled with financial payback.
“The cogeneration unit meets this criteria,” he said. “We are endeavouring to achieve an outcome as close to carbon neutral as is feasibly possible, so our development has incorporated cogeneration, lighting efficiency, gas use where possible and smart energy saving devices.”
Simons Green Energy CEO, Derek Simons, said the system boasts 85 per cent conversion efficiency compared to 30 per cent for conventional grid-supplied electricity.
“With escalating electricity prices and the introduction of carbon pricing, future savings for the hotel will be substantial,” he said.
The initiative is in line with the Sydney Airport Corporation’s environmental management strategy, which includes water management, waste and resource management with 80 per cent of construction waste recycled, as well as soil and land management.
The project follows the installation of a 142 kilowatt (kWe) gas cogeneration plant at the Castle Hill RSL Club’s aquatic centre, west of Sydney.
The plant supplies 70 per cent of the building’s electricity demands and the hot water required for four swimming pools and shower facilities.
Since it was installed by Simons Green Energy late last year, the club has saved over $6000 per month in electricity costs and reduced greenhouse emissions from 164 tonnes to 104 tonnes per month.