1GW of Electricity Could Be Generated from Waste Energy in UK Natural Gas Distribution

Here’s a novel way to generate some (extra) electricity: Bath, UK-based company 2OC has unveiled a plan to capture wasted pressure from the natural gas grid, Cleantech reports. By 2010 the group hopes to be able to generate 20 MW of power in east London. This is how the ‘geo-pressure’ system would work:

Up to 1 GW of Electricity Could be Generated
By attaching a 20cm tall “turbo expander” on the pipeline at a natural gas pressure reduction station the energy from the pressure reduction procedure could be harvested and used to generate electricity. 2OC estimates that if geo-pressure were fully exploited in the UK, the nation could add an additional 1 GW of electricity to the grid and avoid emitting 1 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

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