Los Pinos Bio Energy Plant

Description: The project presented consists of increasing the existing installed generation capacity from 2.8MWe to approximately 9 MW in two stages. The existing facilities correspond to the following: System for cleaning and conditioning biogas. Two electric generation units. Each unit is formed by a specialized internal combustion engine to use biogas and a 1.4 MW electric generator. Security and control system. Electrical substation consisting of 2 transformers of 1,800 KVA and electric power transmission line (LT) from the plant to the point of interconnection to the distribution network. Auxiliary systems consisting of lubricants and coolants tanks, cooling systems, among others. Offices, dining room and control centers. Stage 1 consists of doubling the current installed capacity. For this, it will be necessary to implement: Two electric generation units. Each unit is formed by a specialized internal combustion engine to use biogas and an electric generator from 1.4 MW to 1.5 MW. Security system and additional control. The electrical equipment includes the installation of a 1,800 KVA transformer by motor generator, which is connected to the existing LT. It is not necessary to modify the existing electric transmission line. Stage 2 consists in adding two generation units to stage 1. For this, it will be necessary to implement: System of cleaning and conditioning of the biogas additional to those considered in stage 1. Two units of electric generation. Each unit is formed by a specialized internal combustion engine to use biogas and an electric generator from 1.4 MW to 1.5 MW. Security system and additional control. The electrical equipment includes the installation of a 1,800 KVA transformer by motor generator, which is connected to the existing LT. It is not necessary to modify the existing electric transmission line. Once stage 2 has been executed, the plant will have 6 generation units totaling approximately 9 MW of electrical power. Objective The objective of the project is to obtain electricity through the operation of six generation units of approximately 1.5 MW of power each, through the combustion of recovered biogas from the Concepción Waste Management Center. Currently, the plant has two generation units, with a generation power of 2.8 MW, which includes an electrical substation and a medium voltage transmission line to evacuate power from the plant. Its current status (August 2017) is construction phase, start-up activities. The implementation of the additional units and their auxiliary systems will be carried out in two stages. The first stage consists in complementing the existing facilities (2.8 MW) to complete approximately 6 MW of electric power generation capacity, using the biogas from the landfill. The second stage consists of expanding the generation capacity with two additional units to stage 1, completing approximately 9 MW, using the future capacity to generate biogas from the landfill.