The $500 million Darling Quarter project is a collaborative effort between property development company Lend Lease and the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. The project includes Commonwealth Bank Place, which will house over 6,000 Commonwealth Bank of Australia employees, and will also include a family and leisure precinct with retail and dining spaces, a new public park and car park.

MPower-ing trigeneration

At Darling Quarter, MPower was employed to implement and integrate two 400 kilowatt (kW) MWM natural gas generators into a trigeneration system. The two TCG 2016 V8C generators, with an electrical efficiency of 42.2 per cent, supply hot water to a York absorption chiller which, at full capacity, can generate 500 kW of cooling in the form of chilled water for air conditioning systems.

The trigeneration system is integrated into Commonwealth Bank Place’s Building Management and Control System and its Energy and Water Management System.

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This results in the ability to monitor the power consumption of the building base load, while also controlling generator output in order to maximise efficiency. MPower also installed two 1,650 kilovolt amps back-up emergency generators.

MPower Projects designed the mains power synchronisation connect and disconnect system, as well as a process control system that manages the base trigeneration package. The inclusion of a trigeneration system has contributed to Commonwealth Bank Place achieving a 6 Star Green Star Office Design rating, as well as providing power and cooling requirements.

Of the project, Simon Helps, MWM National Sales Manager says: “The project shows that good planning and cooperation between the members of the project team deliver the best outcome for the end customer. With the selection of the market-leading TCG 2016 V8C, the project can deliver the highest level of carbon dioxide reduction along with reliability and flexibility.”

Project challenges

The optimisation of a cogeneration or trigeneration plant is essential to achieve the highest level of efficiency. One of the key elements of a plant is load maximisation, which ensures as much waste heat is consumed to attain the highest efficiency.

Cogeneration and trigeneration plants are typically used on a continuous basis as opposed to standby applications. The design of a continuously operating plant is far more demanding than a standby plant, and heavier loading wear and tear tolerance with high availability is a primary design consideration.

Depending on the technology selected, either gas turbine or reciprocating engine, the application of load to the system may need to be controlled. That control can take many forms, either load application control or support from the main power grid.

Financial institutions demand highly reliable power and availability, and the Darling Quarter facility had the added requirements of meeting an efficiency target. Achieving a 6 Star Green Star rating was of great importance for this particular project.