Raley’s Superstore, Fairfield, California

Project Owners / Partners

Raley’s Superstore
Hess Microgen

DER Technology

Hess Microgen cogeneration system:
Two, 200-kW cogen packages.

Overview

The 2001 California energy crisis prompted Edward Estberg, Senior director of facilities for Raley’s to explore ways to fight high energy costs and outages. The result was to investigate an engine-driven combined heat and power solution. The components of the initial system included two 200-kW synchronous cogeneration packages, a 110-ton absorption chiller, and a cooling tower for the chiller’s condenser water. The agreement was that the equipment supplier, Hess Microgen would own the equipment and guarantee Raley’s an annual $50,000 energy savings.

Since the initial system was installed, some changes have been made. The 200-kW systems were too large and were replaced with two 140-kW systems. Also, the single chiller was replaced with two smaller chillers. These changes enable the CHP system to more closely match the load and operate more efficiently.

Contacts

Edward Estberg, Raley’s
Hess Microgen, www.hessmicrogen.com