Cleanergy recently announced the first deployment of its GasBox at a waste water treatment plant. The Jesenice plant in the north west of Slovenia is now using Cleanergy’s combined-heat-and-power (CHP) system to generate electricity and heat from dirty methane gas being emitted at the site.

The Jesenice plant treats waste water produced by approximately 25,000 people. Around 110,000 standard cubic meters (sm3) of dirty methane is produced every year at the site.

An industry first, Cleanergy’s GasBox – the centerpiece of its complete CHP system – has been specifically developed to generate electricity and heat from the methane gas being emitted at smaller waste water treatment plants such as Jesenice. The GasBox works with methane of varying quality containing multiple contaminants and has been designed to cope with variations in the supply of methane.

Cleanergy’s CHP system at Jesenice is now generating around 100,000 kWh of electricity and 400,000 kWh of heat each year which is being used for lighting, heating and powering equipment on-site.

Nusa Jelenc, head of drainage and wastewater treatment at the Jesenice waste water treatment plant, said “Cleanergy’s CHP system is very impressive and exactly what the water treatment industry needs. Being able to reduce our methane emissions and generate our own electricity at the same time is fantastic and we highly recommend Cleanergy to our industry colleagues around the world.”

Anders Koritz, CEO at Cleanergy, said “The traditional systems for treating biogas are far too expensive for smaller waste-water treatment plants. Our GasBox was specifically developed to provide a cost-effective option with a short return on investment. We have filled a huge gap in the market and this is a highly promising market opportunity for Cleanergy.”

With an ROI of as little as 3-5 years, Cleanergy’s GasBox is already commercially deployed at several landfills in Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK. Installed inside a modular container, Cleanergy’s GasBox is an autonomous and flexible stirling engine unit. Also inside the container is a real-time power management system with remote access; a fuel pipe; plus a heat and electricity connection to a house/factory/warehouse with optional grid functionality.