GE Power to cut Bakhresa’s operating costs

DAILY NEWS Reporter

                                                                        Said Salim Bakhresa.

SAID Salim Bakhresa & Co Limited has embarked on using high efficiency natural gas fuelled power plant to cut down its yearly operating costs in its Azam flour mills.

The power plant will be supplied by Clarke Energy, the GE’s authorised distributor high-efficiency Jenbacher gas engines for a combined heat and power (CHP) plant.

“We selected GE and Clarke Energy for our site in Dar es Salaam due to the efficiency performance of similar units in Tanzania and availability of their service support in the country,” said Mr Rajesh Nair, Said Salim Bakhresa & Co Limited’s Technical Manager.

Clarke Energy, Business Development Director, Mr Hugh Richmond, said “Bakhresa is one of the leading industrial houses in Tanzania and this natural gas-fuelled power generation has significant cost and carbon-saving benefits.”

“As Clarke Energy’s first project in Tanzania, it will help reduce the factory’s operational costs and in parallel, deliver reliable power.” Tanzania has large domestic reserves of gas that are located in coastal waters off the southern part of the country.

There have been two gas pipelines constructed in Tanzania to transport that gas from the site of production to the site of use.

The first pipeline reached full capacity a number of years ago and supplied a limited number of industries with gas for self-consumption. The second gas pipeline has just been completed resulting in new supplies of gas being made available to industry.

This installation for Bakhresa will utilise the newly available gas to generate high-efficiency, reliable power in the form of electricity and heat by use of GE’s Jenbacher J612 gas engines capable of generating 1.82 megawatts (MW) of electrical energy.

The plant will be configured as a CHP plant, with heat from the engines being fed into a steam boiler that is able to produce 1,040 kilogrammes per hour of steam at 6 barg.

The power plant also will operate in a grid-synchronous manner. Clarke Energy is delivering an integrated solution for the CHP plant.

This will incorporate both mechanical and electrical installation works along with grid connection support for the 33-kilovolt link.

“GE’s Jenbacher J612 gas engine features lower emissions and increased efficiency,” said Oluwatoyin Abegunde, sub-Sahara Africa regional leader for GE’s Distributed Power business.