Developed by consulting company Haron Robson, the system consists of a Clarke Energy-manufactured Jenbacher engine and an absorption chiller installed by Caps Australia.

The system cost a total of $4.5 million and is expected to reduce Rooty Hill RSL’s carbon emissions by up to 50 per cent.

Project challenges

Steven Ball from Haron Robson described some of the challenges the project presented, including having to navigate grid protection requirements. The local power authority, Integral Energy, needed assurance from Haron Robson that the grid would not be negatively impacted by the Rooty Hill trigeneration system.

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The relative novelty of trigeneration system installation means that clear pathways to establish grid protection are not yet established, Mr Ball explains. As such, it took Haron Robson longer than anticipated to satisfy the Integral Energy grid protection requirements.

The upside of this, says Mr Ball, is that Haron Robson now knows more than most companies about these kinds of requirements.

Another challenge faced in the development of the project was that the gas supply to the Rooty Hill RSL was not sufficient to power the intended trigeneration system. This could have been overcome by upgrading the gas flow to the RSL, but this would have dramatically increased the overall cost of the project. Instead, it was decided that the best course of action would be to install a more sensitive engine model, able to produce energy with the gas supply as it was. The chosen model was the GE Jenbacher JMS 320.

Project objectives

The GE Jenbacher JMS 320 engine will operate during peak and shoulder periods, turning on when power prices increase during the day and turning off when energy prices revert to off-peak rates later in the evening. In the case of a blackout, the trigeneration power plant, including the absorption chiller for air-conditioning, will power the entire site using a demand management system.

Success of the project

While it does not meet all of the energy needs of the Rooty Hill RSL (estimated to be 2 megawatts per annum), the installation of the trigeneration system will make the club considerably more energy efficient. This energy efficiency measure runs parallel with water saving techniques the club has implemented.