Gatorade Plant to Reduce Emissions by 20%
NET SAVINGS
$590,000
NET INVESTMENT IN REBATE
$2,750,000
SIMPLE PAYBACK WITH REBATE
4.66 Years
Introduction
This project was developed internally by PepsiCo engineers with financial support from their electric utility company. The gas installation was supported by the UGI Engineering Team.
The CHP plant consists of one 2MW motor designed to recover hot water at 150F from its jackets and aftercooler, and to generate saturated steam at 100 psig from its exhaust gases. The recovered hot water is used to pre-heat process water prior to pasteurization and the steam is injected into general plant steam grid.
This project has an expected electric efficiency of 37%, and a thermal efficiency of 48%, which is reasonable for a project of this size. The overall efficiency of 85% is significantly higher than other conventional power generator units.
CHP Efficiency - Equipment Size 2MW
Waste Heat Recovered
As most successful CHP systems, this equipment is supported by two boilers which also generate steam at 100 psig. As in most CHP projects, these boilers were previously responsible for the whole steam and hot water generation, and now their utilization is being reduced by the CHP thermal production. In any case, a complementary thermal redundancy is strongly recommended to respond to quick changes in demand and to shave peak load, as CHP generators perform better on a base load regime.
The UGI EE&C Rebate
As of January 2017, UGI South began offering a CHP rebate of $750 per kW on equipment installed; not to exceed 50% of project cost or a maximum of $250,000. The rebate is available to current and new UGI natural gas commercial customers in Pennsylvania who take service under rate class DS or LFD.
Financial Analysis & Cost-Benefit
| Base case | With UGI Rebate | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Savings | $1,200,000 | $1,200,000 |
| Extra Gas Consumption | $450,000 | $450,000 |
| Maintenance | $160,000 | $160,000 |
| Net Savings | $590,000 | $590,000 |
| Total Investment | $3,500,000 | $3,500,000 |
| Incentives | $500,000 | $750,000 |
| Net Investment | $3,000,000 | $2,750,000 |
| ROI | 19.7% | 21.5% |
| Simple Payback (Years) | 5.08 | 4.66 |
Summary
This system generates 14.8 GWh and 74,000 MMBTU of electric and thermal energy annually, which generates savings over $1.2 million. The total investment for this project was close to $3.5 million, which was supported with a $500,000 incentive from the customer’s electric utility company. The additional operational cost, which includes fuel and maintenance, is estimated at $160,000. Overall, the project has a simple payback of 5.08 years. With a UGI CHP rebate, the simple payback is reduced to 4.66, and the ROI is increased from 19.7% to 21.5%.
