Ener-Core Inc., Irvine, California, a provider of Power Oxidation technology and equipment that generates clean power from waste and low-quality gases from a wide variety of industries, initiated its Full Scale Acceptance Test (FSAT) connecting the company’s 2 megawatt power oxidizer with the Houston-based Dresser-Rand business’ KG2-3G gas turbine. The FSAT involves a fully functional system in a configuration that enables testing of all performance against specifications.
After successful testing, the FSAT will trigger the payment of a $1.6 million license fee from the Dresser-Rand business, part of Siemens Power and Gas Division, payable to Ener-Core. The license agreement grants the Dresser-Rand business exclusive rights to commercialize the Ener-Core power oxidizer technology in the 1 to 4 megawatt range, bundled with the Dresser-Rand business’ KG2 gas turbine product line.
Also following successful testing, the Dresser-Rand business can assemble and ship the first two commercial 2 megwatt systems to Pacific Ethanol Inc., Sacramento, California, who placed the first purchase order for this large-scale technology. It will also enable Ener-Core’s and the Dresser-Rand business’ manufacturing teams to finalize the system’s design in anticipation of future customer orders.
Alain Castro, CEO of Ener-Core, says “Launching this innovative power-generation technology at the utility-scale size represents a significant contribution to both the energy industry as well as to the pollution abatement industry. A 2 megawatt system is large enough to power 2,000 to 3,000 homes; with this system, we can enable many industries to generate this amount of power from their poor-quality waste gases that usually get discarded and end up as air pollution.”
Ener-Core signed a commercial license agreement with Dresser-Rand in November 2014. Since then, Ener-Core’s engineering team has been working closely with a multinational team of engineers from the Dresser-Rand business to design, build, test and deploy the 2 megawatt system. In May 2015, the teams successfully completed a Sub Scale Acceptance Test (SSAT). The SSAT demonstrated that Ener-Core’s technology could generate enough heat from low-quality gases to power a 2 megawatt gas turbine. This FSAT will be the final test within the framework of the Dresser-Rand business license agreement with Ener-Core, and will trigger the full commercial deployment of this unique 2 megawatt system that has been designed specifically to produce clean energy from low-quality industrial waste gases.
