Engineering news
Renewable energy provider, Raggnar, has agreed a distribution deal which will enable it to generate electricity and provide cooling systems for the first time.
The Aberdeenshire-based firm says access to new technologies will help its customers power their homes and businesses using biomass for around a third of the cost of large energy companies.
Currently, Raggnar designs, installs and maintains renewable energy systems for homes, business and communities. As part of its new development it will now able to provide customers combined heat and power generators from Heliex Power and Turboden, as well as chiller technology from Thermax.
Heliex is a manufacturer of power generation systems based in East Kilbride. Its steam expander technology generates electricity using waste steam from biomass heating systems, does not need to run continuously and is suited to systems generating up to 500kW of electricity, enough to power the critical systems of a typical 12-story office building.
Raggnar has also started working with Turboden, part of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries group of companies, using a unique thermodynamic process to generate up to 15MW of electric power output. Its turbogenerators work more efficiently than conventional sets as they do not need to run continuously and can burn wood chip with relatively high levels of moisture content.
Engineering company Thermax will work with Raggnar for a technology that uses a heat rejection system to chill water for air conditioning and industrial cooling systems. Popular with farms and manufacturing plants, most commercial facilities could achieve a two-thirds reduction in energy costs by moving from grid electricity to biomass powered cooling.
Nigel Perkins, chief executive of Raggnar, said: “This is a breakthrough moment for Raggnar as it signals our expansion into electricity generation. There is growing desire for homeowners and businesses to be greener and more energy efficient, and we can help customers even more by providing low-cost electricity from their reliable, renewable source of heat and hot water.
“People want to save money on energy. Biomass provides clean electricity for about four pence per unit, a third of the cost of electricity from large energy companies through the grid. Government incentives continue to encourage localised renewable power generation so anyone with room to expand can go green, reduce their bills and ensure their energy future.”