Ormat declares commercial operation of its OREG3 pipeline compressor station heat recovery generator
Great River Energy will receive electricity from the facility through 2030
Ormats’s OREG3 pipeline compressor station heat recovery generator, located near Trimont, Minn., on the Northern Border pipeline, has been declared commercially operational.
Great River Energy has a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Ormat for the output (up to 5.5 megawatts) of the generator. There are several other similar projects “upstream” from this one on the Northern Border Pipeline. ORMAT is interested in developing project at other locations on other pipelines as well.
The project recovers energy from the exhaust of a natural gas-fired combustion turbine which mechanically drives the natural gas compressor in the compressor station. Since no additional fuel is consumed in producing electricity from the project, there are no additional emissions. Great River Energy believes the energy the project produces will count towards meeting a portion of the Minnesota energy conservation goal.
The generator can only run when the compressor is operating. Similar to a “run of river” hydro facility, which runs in proportion to the water flow in the river, this could be called a “run of pipeline” facility. Great River Energy entered into the PPA with the expectation of a fairly high capacity factor for energy production from the facility. Great River Energy also expects the output to be fairly well correlated to system load and energy market prices.
The PPA term is nominally 20 years; it will terminate on Dec. 31, 2030.
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