BackgroundCastle Hill RSL Club’s C2K Aquatic Centre in Sydney is one of the City’s largest multi-purpose leisure and activity centres.

The centre is open all year and offers facilities for everyone, ranging from toddlers to fifty plus groups, participating in activities covering swimming to fitness classes to Gymnasium activities and Fitness training.

The Club identified the need to improve the energy efficiency of their aquatic centre in order to reduce current and projected energy costs and reduce their carbon footprint. Simons Green Energy was engaged to design an efficient, low running cost and low maintenance cost, grid parallel cogeneration system that would provide the C2K Aquatic Centre with enough power to cover base load electricity demands while utilising waste heat to provide hot water for all of the Centre’s swimming pools, and domestic hot water storage tanks.

The Aquatic Centre has four indoor pools including a 25 metre pool, an aerobics pool, a program pool and spa pool. All of these pools were previously heated by costly electric heat pumps, while domestic hot water was supplied by gas fired hot water units.

CogenerationCogeneration, also known as Combined Heat and Power (CHP), is the simultaneous production of two forms of energy — electricity and heat from a single fuel source, at the point of usage. Cogeneration uses a natural gas-powered engine to generate the on-site electricity and the waste heat from the engine is captured to provide heating for uses such as portable hot water, space heating and process heat for swimming pools and similar applications.

System DetailsDesigned and installed by Simons Green Energy, the Cogeneration Plant is made up of a SEVA 142 kilowatt (kWe) reciprocating gas engine, a series of heat exchangers and hot water storage tanks. The six cylinder MAN engine will produce 775,320kW of electricity per year which will help reduce energy costs dramatically. The Typical pay back period on Cogeneration technology varies between three to six years depending on the application and site specifics.

As a result of Simons Green Energy’s highly efficient heat and electricity generation, the new cogeneration plant satisfies 70% of the building’s electricity requirements and is cheaper and cleaner than coal-fired grid supplied electricity. The hot water is produced for “free” from the waste heat of the cogeneration plant. The Cogeneration unit at Castle Hill RSL is technologically advanced and highly efficient at about 85% conversion efficiency compared with 30% efficiency for conventional grid supplied electricity.

Environmental BenefitsThe Cogeneration system will reduce the centre’s CO2 emissions by approximately 300 tonnes per year. This equals the environmental benefit of saving 30,000 trees, or taking approximately 1,350 cars off the road per year. In addition, it is cost-effective and with escalating electricity prices and the likely introduction of a carbon price, the future savings for the Club will be substantial.

The engineering team from Simons Green Energy worked closely with the Club’s staff to ensure a smooth installation without interruption to the operation of Centre. The team also worked closely with Endeavour Energy to satisfy their strict design and installation regulations for connecting on-site power generation to the main power grid.

Case Study Castle Hill RSL Club C2K Aquatic Centre

Simons Green Energy's Cogeneration System helps reduce energy costs and lower greenhouse gas emissions in Castle Hill

Case Study Castle Hill RSL Club C2K Aquatic Centre

Details of C2K Cogeneration System System Power 142kWe (electrical) 207kWt (thermal)

Daily Electrical Output 2,130 kWh

Daily Thermal Output 3,105kWh

The Benefits of Cogeneration • Offers financial savings over conventional energy supply

• Lowers any future Carbon Tax liabilities

• Primary energy savings deliver lower energy bills

• Higher efficiency offers reduced greenhouse gas emissions

• Greater security of supply and plentiful hot water

• Flexible procurement options

• Possible grant funding

Questions and Answers Regarding CogenerationWhat is Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP)?

Cogeneration or CHP as it’s sometimes called, is the process of capturing and then utilising the heat produced by generating electricity.

Conventional electricity generation by power stations is only around 30% efficient, which means a huge potential source of energy is simply released into the atmosphere as a by-product. CHP can harness this power.

What are the business benefits of installing CHP?

In short, Cogeneration delivers great value energy.

By recovering most of this otherwise wasted heat, CHP can bring overall energy savings of up to 40 per cent. For an energy intensive development, that can represent a substantial saving, especially when combined with other energy efficiency measures.

Are there any environmental benefits?

Cogeneration has been widely recognised as a key measure in helping to reduce harmful emissions of CO2, with some schemes being shown to halve emissions compared with conventional sources of heat and power.

How does Cogeneration fit in with Trigeneration?

Cogeneration can be incorporated into a Trigeneration scheme to provide heating, power and cooling from the same source. Here the excess heat produced is cooled by absorption chillers linked to the Cogeneration system. This produces chilled water for cooling, which is particularly useful for schemes which involve a large level of air conditioning.

About Simons Green EnergySimons Green Energy offer a complete range of sustainable energy equipment, from Cogeneration, renewable electricity generation from biogas, energy from waste heat, to solar technologies.

They will design, size, develop, deliver, maintain and finance sustainable energy solutions and technologies Australia wide.

For further details contact us:

Simons Green Energy 755 Botany Road Rosebery New South Wales 2018

Tel: (02) 8338 8660 Fax: (02) 8338 8661

E-mail: info@simonsgreenenergy.com.au Website: www.simonsgreenenergy.com.au

77 Castle Street, Castle Hill NSW 2154 Ph: (02) 8858 4800 www.castlehillrsl.com.auwww.simonsgreenenergy.com.au