Turbine Systems Used for Energy Generation
In January 2009, KSB Aktiengesellschaft starts marketing turnkey turbine systems for energy generation and recovery.
KSB Turbine systems used for energy generation (KSB Aktiengesellschaft, Frankenthal)
With a wide range of “pump as turbine” (or PaT) configurations, the German pump manufacturer is able to offer its customers a cost-effective means of generating energy decentrally at heads from 1.5 to 300 metres and rates of flow ranging from 10 to 5000 litres per second.
The steep increase in the cost of energy has caused a steep increase in the demand for this type of small-scale power station. In the past, due to the disproportionately high cost of turbines, whether as one-off units or manufactured in small numbers, the possibility of utilising relatively small watercourses hardly was an economically viable option.
To achieve a mains frequency of precisely 50 Hertz despite fluctuating heads, specialists tend to fall back on bypasses, throttle valves, cascade operation of various sizes, or frequency-controlled generators. The units in question, based as they are on pumps that have proven their worth in countless applications, reach an efficiency of up to 88 percent, depending on their design.
As PaT are now up to 60 percent cheaper to procure than regular turbines, and are cheaper to service and maintain as well, this type of system pays for itself in a short time. KSB’s package comprises advisory service, planning, selection and commissioning of equipment, as well as all required services from a single source. KSB has been successfully marketing this type of units for energy generation everywhere in the world since the middle of the 1960s.
Source: KSB SE & Co. KGaA
