Nexterra to install biomass system for UBC

Nexterra Systems Corp. (Vancouver, B.C.) has signed a multi-million dollar agreement with the University of British Columbia to supply and install a biomass-fired combined heat and power (CHP) system at the university’s Vancouver campus. Describing the installation as the first of its kind in North America, Nexterra said that the system will use urban wood waste to produce a synthetic gas, or “syngas,” that will be directly fired into a General Electric internal combustion engine to produce 2 MW of electricity. Waste heat will be recovered to produce 9,000 pounds per hour of low-pressure steam for campus heating. The installation is the result of three years of collaboration between Nexterra and GE’s Jenbacher gas engine division.