by Shane Henson — November 7, 2011—Tecogen Inc., a manufacturer of highly efficient, ultra-clean combined heat and power products, recently announced that the Marlborough-based New England Sports Center (NESC) has completed installation and startup of its third Tecogen CM-75 cogeneration unit. NESC is upgrading its onsite power generation capabilities from 150 kW, produced by two Tecogen CM-75 units purchased from American DG Energy Inc. (ADGE), to 225 kW with the addition of this third Tecogen unit. As Tecogen’s regional representative, ADGE also provided the customer with engineering consultation and design services for their energy metering and monitoring system which is required for validation for Energy Efficiency Credits (EEC).
Prior to installing the Tecogen units, NESC used conventional gas boilers for hot water and purchased all its electricity from National Grid, its local utility. With Tecogen’s cogeneration equipment providing hot water with free electricity, the facility estimates an annual savings of $80,000 from operations and $50,000 from EEC, due to maximizing energy efficiency.
The New England Sports Center houses more ice skating surface than any other facility in New England, in a state-of-the-art facility, making it a center of choice for training and sporting events for local as well as professional and Olympic skaters. This site requires dependable, solid, advanced technology. The Tecogen units are able to be integrated with the fully automated Siemens control system that manages the entire facility. Operation of these units can be monitored from anywhere in the world by simply logging into a monitoring program developed by Tecogen that communicates directly with the units. While the facility did explore other alternative energy solutions such as wind and solar power, it determined that the installation of Tecogen units made the most sense both technically and financially with a much quicker payback—less than two years.
Given the impact Tecogen has already made in helping to increase the NESC’s energy efficiency while reducing savings, other large facilities may also choose to explore this advanced technology and to utilize the company’s cogeneration units and other products.
