District Energy Now

Volume 12 Number 5 December 1996

Welcome New Members!

Steve Passage
Executive Vice President
Montenay International Corporation
800 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10022
(212) 826-7054
(212) 826-9645 fax
referred by Carl Avers of Thermal Ventures

Joel Goss
President
Goss Engineering Inc.
PO Box 730
Pleasant Hill, OR 97455
(541) 726-9581
(541) 726-9582 fax
E-mail: JoelGoss@aol.com

Mark Goehring
Owner
TriFlow Specialties
4 Union Street
Medford, NJ 08055
(609) 654-0313
(609) 654-0320 fax

Floyd Collins
Program Manager
US Department of Energy
Office of Utility Technology
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20585
(202) 586-9191
(202) 586-0784 fax

Brian W. Thomas
President
Delta Piping Products Inc./Tuyauterie Delta Inc.
3015 Kennedy Road
Suite 205
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada M1V 1E7
(416) 754-1885
(416) 754-1248 fax
referred by Paul Barstow of Kenyon-Barstow Company

Mark Malmendier
5663 Canadice Lake Road
Springwater, NY 14560
(716) 367-2111
(716) 367-9665 fax
E-mail: markmal@servtech.com

ASHRAE Winter Meeting
January 25-28, 1997
Philadelphia, PA
Contact: ASHRAE (404) 636-8400

10th Annual IDEA College/University Conference
February 19-21, 1997
Omni Hotel Charlottesville, Charlottesville, VA
Contact: IDEA, (202) 429-5111

IDEA Marketing Workshop
March 6-8, 1997
Philadelphia, PA
Contact: IDEA, (202) 429-5111

28th Biennial Congress and International District Heating Expo
June 9-11, 1997, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Contact: Euroheat & Power - unichal, phone 41 1 211 3635, fax 41 1 221 7063 or E-mail: euroheat@access.ch

88th Annual IDEA Conference & Trade Show
June 14­17, 1997
Hotel Del Coronado, San Diego, CA
Contact: IDEA, (202) 429­5111

The Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) was officially unveiled on December 3 as the voice of the competitive power supply industry. EPSA was created as a result of a merger between the National Independent Energy Producers and the Electric Generation Association, two former national trade associations that separately represented the independent power industry. The Board of Directors of NIEP and EGA had approved of the merger in September.

EPSA Chair Steven D. Burton, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Sithe Energies Inc., said, "As of today the competitive power industry's message will be clearer, our voice will be stronger, and our influence on the critical dialogue about how to bring the benefits of competition to all electricity customers will be enhanced."

EPSA will represent over 60 member companies active in the competitive power supply industry, which includes independent power producers, power marketers, and affiliated suppliers of goods and services. The association will serve as the national trade association representing competitive power suppliers active in U.S. and global power markets.

IDEA members from the U.S. were well­represented in the program of the International District Heating Conference held in late October in Copenhagen, Denmark. Mark Spurr of Resource Efficiency Inc. presented a paper on integrating district cooling with cogeneration, and Anders Rydaker of District Energy St. Paul Inc. provided an overview of district cooling in the U.S. The cooling track of the conference was chaired by IDEA board member Gordon Bloomquist of Washington State University. Jack Kattner of Kattner/FVB District Energy Inc. addressed the plenary session on communications.

The conference was attended by 480 people from 31 countries, and was conducted in English with Russian translation.

The last issue of District Energy Now included an article ("District Energy on TV?") about plans for a one­hour Peter Jennings special on global climate change and Mark Spurr's efforts to see that district energy is covered. In response to inquiries from people wanting to know when the special will be broadcast, Spurr has indicated that, according to ABC News, it will probably be broadcast in spring.

It takes a long time to put such a special together, and it's still early in the process. Spurr is feeding the producers information on district energy and how it fits into the solution on global climate change.

Executive Director John Fiegel recently met with Mary Nichols, Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Nichols has expressed strong concerns about the potential environmental consequences of electric industry restructuring. IDEA has responded by highlighting the significant potential for district energy to reduce emissions of regulated pollutants and greenhouse gases. Fiegel presented information on steps being taken by other countries to encourage implementation of district energy and cogeneration.

IDEA has recommended to Congress that legislation for retail wheeling include favorable treatment for "high efficiency cogeneration" in which at least 20% of the energy value of fuel consumed is recovered as heat used meet heating and/or cooling requirements.

After taking ownership of the electric facilities at the Milwaukee County Power Plant one year ago, Wisconsin Electric (WE) now owns and operates the steam services while its newly created affiliate, Wisconsin Thermal Energy Service Co. (WTES), owns and operates the chilled water facilities.

Negotiations were finalized in a sale that closed on Nov. 22 relieving Milwaukee County of the steam and chilled water facilities. The plant began operation under WE and WTES's ownership on December 2.

"By combining the energy capacity of the former county power plant with our existing system and services, we can offer our new customers competitive rates and a variety of services to improve energy efficiency and manage their energy costs," adds Krause.

A subsidiary of Wisconsin Energy Corp., Wisconsin Electric provides electricity, natural gas and/or steam service to about 2.3 million people in southeastern Wisconsin (including the Milwaukee area), the Appleton area, the Prairie du Chien area, and in northeastern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Trigen Energy Corporation announced on November 22 that its subsidiary, Trigen­Kansas City Energy Corporation, an IDEA member, has received letters of intent from the City of Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, and the General Services Administration (GSA) to purchase chilled water for eleven buildings in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri which are owned by these government entities. Trigen is proceeding with the detailed design of the system while working with the three government entities to finalize terms of the contract. Contract signing is expected by February 1, 1997.

Trigen plans to break ground in early spring of 1997 and begin serving the cooling needs of the government buildings in the second quarter of 1998. In addition to these anchor buildings, government and private buildings are expected to be connected in the short term, with additional buildings added during the ensuing two to three years. Trigen's total investment in the system is expected to reach $25 million by the year 2000.

A Call For Papers has been released for the 6th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling Simulation. Abstracts are requested by January 15 for the August 28-30, 1997 meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland.

The abstract should contain the title of the paper, authors and their affiliation, postal and e­mail addresses, keywords, area and type of paper, the main references, together with the summary of the paper. The abstracts should be about 1000 words written in English on a white A4 ­ sized paper including 30 mm margins.

Proposed papers will be reviewed and selected by the Scientific Committee. Authors will be notified of acceptance by March 15, 1997. Full paper deadline is April 30, 1997

Extended abstracts should be submitted to the Scientific Secretariat of the symposium at the address:

Dr. Olafur P. Palsson
University of Iceland
Faculty of Engineering
Hjardarhaga 2­6
IS­107 Reykjavik
ICELAND
e­mail: opp@verk.hi.is

In July, The Medical Center Company, an IDEA member private district utility located in Cleveland, Ohio, initiated chilled water distribution to five member-owned buildings. Included in the initial service is the new Rainbow and Babies Hospital tower along with four existing Case Western Reserve University buildings that comprise their health science complex. This fall, the system also began serving several other University Hospitals of Cleveland buildings. The addition of chilled water service will be an added benefits for the company's members it currently serves with electricity and steam.

The newly constructed chiller and distribution facilities were designed by Syska & Hennessy, Inc., also an IDEA member. Two 2,170 ton Carrier 17 EX centrifugal units with 134a refrigerant were initially installed along with Marley towers equipped with low noise fans. Thirty inch distribution lines were installed to permit plant expansion.

Trigen Energy Corporation, an IDEA member, and Hyrdo-Quebec announced on November 7 a joint venture that they believe will significantly reduce energy operating costs and capital requirements for large energy users within New England and upstate New York. This joint venture brings together the expertise of each company in combining heat and power production and fuel procurement. With the implementation of retail wheeling, the joint venture's customers will have access to low-cost hydroelectric power.

Trigen Energy Corporation's President and CEO said, "Our joint venture with Hydro-Quebec is an exciting and logical next step in achieving Trigen's mission of supplying energy using half the fuel and producing half the pollution of conventional means."

Trigen Energy Corp. and Hydro-Quebec stated that the new company will be operated as a joint venture between their subsidiaries, Trigen-Boston and H.Q. Energy Services, (U.S.). The new venture will continue the Trigen operating model that employs advanced technology and combined energy production to significantly reduce annual energy operating costs and customer capital requirements. The joint venture will be based at the Trigen offices in Boston, Mass.

Takeshi Mishina was recently appointed Managing Director of the Japan District Heating & Cooling Association.

Stephen Mischissin joined Stanford University Department of Facilities Operations as the new Utilities Manager. Stephen has over 12 years of experience in the utilities field. His most recent position was at Dartmouth University, where he started as Utilities Engineer and was promoted to Assistant Director of Engineering and Utilities for Facilities Operations and Management. Stephen is currently a Board Member of IDEA and the Technical Chairman for the 10th Annual College and University Conference. In addition, he is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), American Welding Society (AWS) and the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers (APPA) and is a registered Professional Engineer.

Kurt Feldtfos will take over as the new director of European District Heating Pipe Manufacturers Association (EuHP) as of January 1 when Mads Madsen retires. Kurt has served as managing director for EuHP and previously worked as manager of export activities for ABB I.C. Møller's; sales and marketing manager of APV Heat Exchanger; and sales director for Vølund Danstoker.

 

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