Seven people and projects accelerating cogeneration
Kelvin Ross
Posted on: 4 July 2023
CHP association COGEN Europe has revealed the winners of its annual Recognition Awards| which highlight and honour the people and projects making a tangible difference in the field of cogeneration.
Annual COGEN Europe awards celebrate the best in the cogeneration sector
CHP association COGEN Europe has revealed the winners of its annual Recognition Awards, which highlight and honour the people and projects making a tangible difference in the field of cogeneration.
And as one of the judging panel, I can confirm that the nominations were incredibly strong: so much so that for the first time, a runner-up award was created in the Technology & Innovation category.
The awards were announced at a ceremony at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels last week to mark the end of COGEN Europe’s annual conference and also celebrate the organisation’s 30th anniversary.
Seven awards were presented in six categories: Technology & Innovation; Market Development (organisation); Market Development (individual); Policy Development, Young CHP Leader, and Lifetime Achievement.
The winners were:
Technology & Innovation Award: Hyflexpower Project;
Technology & Innovation Runner-Up Award: Siemens Energy’s Research & Development Team in Sweden;
Market Development Award (organisation): INNIO Jenbacher;
Lifetime Achievement Award 2023: Julio Artiñano Pascual, President of COGEN Spain;
Market Development Award (individual): Dr Andrej Jentsch, Project Manager AGFW/IEA-DHC;
Policy Development Award: Dr Cristian-Silviu Bușoi MEP;
Young CHP Leader Award 2023: Stefaan Reyniers;
The Technology & Innovation award recognises a company which COGEN Europe believes “has brought to market a project or technological development which breaks new ground for cogeneration”.
The Hyflexpower Project is testing the world’s first fully-integrated power-to-hydrogen-to-power industrial scale power plant at a paper mill near Limoges in France.
Supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, the project comprises nine partners Centrax, Engie and Siemens Energy.
Dr Ertan Yilmaz, Hyflexpower Global Director from Siemens Energy, said "ambitious projects like Hyflexpower require taking partnerships to the next level and being united in a joint mission to make decarbonization a reality”.
“Hydrogen will be essential in the interaction between renewables and electricity storage and generation, with hydrogen-ready turbines playing a decisive role.”
The newly-created runner-up award in the Technology & Innovation category was won by Siemens Energy’s Research and Development Team in Sweden for their achievements in developing and testing dry low emission technology to enable the efficient use of renewable fuels, including increasing shares of hydrogen in gas turbines.
Read our exclusive article about Siemens Energy's Zero Emission Hydrogen Turbine Center in Sweden
INNIO Jenbacher won the Market Development (organisation) award for its “expertise in designing truly integrated energy systems, featuring cogeneration, that can be replicated in various applications across diverse settings”.
Read now: INNIO powers hydrogen-fueled CHP plant in Serbia
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Carl Richers, vice-president of Product Management & Marketing, at INNIO Jenbacher said: "Decentralized, flexible combined heat and power plants are needed to ensure a resilient power and heat supply.
“Waste heat from flexible power generation must be used. Our examples demonstrate a new model of system integration for a green energy future.”
Dr Andrej Jentsch, Project Manager of the German district heating association (AGFW) and Programme Manager of the International Energy Agency’s District Heating & Cooling programme, won the Market Development (individual) award for what the judges called “his outstanding efforts to bring science-based argumentation to the policy debate, and in particular for educating the broader energy community and policymakers about the value of exergy-based energy analysis”.
Dr Jentsch said “a successful energy transition hinges on a science-based assessment of energy system benefits”.
“A combination of resource exergy and comprehensive greenhouse gas analysis is essential in order to avoid costly mistakes and achieve climate neutrality in time.”
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The Policy Development Award is given to a regional, national or EU policymaker who has made a positive and significant contribution to ambitious energy and climate policy, including policy in the areas of energy efficiency and cogeneration.
This year’s winner, Dr Cristian-Silviu Bușoi, is a Member of the European Parliament from Romania.
As Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Transport, Research and Energy (ITRE) since 2019, COGEN Europe said he has “played an important role in promoting an ambitious energy and climate agenda at European level, supporting cross-party coordination and consensus for the adoption of key legislation and providing a clear direction for Europe’s energy industry”.
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Dr Bușoi said energy policy “plays a key role in the EU’s competitiveness and decarbonisation ambitions”.
“Our industries, communities and citizens rely on the European Parliament to deliver robust policies that support their endeavours, while fostering entrepreneurship, innovation and job creation.
“As the Chair of the European Parliament’s ITRE Committee, I am committed to bringing all of its members together and ensuring that European citizens and businesses can benefit from affordable, secure and clean energy at all times.”
'Invaluable contribution to cogeneration'
The COGEN Europe Young CHP Leader Award recognises those who are pioneering new ideas and have the drive and ambition to change the cogeneration sector for the better. This year’s recipient was Stefaan Reyniers, Policy Officer at COGEN Flanders, for his “invaluable analysis and contribution towards COGEN Flanders’ efforts to engage in discussion with the Flemish Government on the role of cogeneration in the future energy system”.
As an environmental and chemical engineer, he said he has “always been fascinated when walking through industrial sites, looking at the synergies between different process and energy streams, limiting waste to a cost-efficient minimum”.
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“It is this mindset we need to translate to society as a whole if we are to accomplish our common goal: an affordable, sustainable society. A complex puzzle in which cogeneration functions as a reliable and flexible backbone."
The Lifetime Achievement winner, Julio Artiñano Pascual, has since worked for Iberdrola Cogeneration as Director of Financial Analysis and Economic Management, as well as serving for many years as the President of the Spanish Cogeneration Association.
"It gives me great satisfaction to receive this award from COGEN Europe,” he said.
“We have jointly developed schemes in Spain and in other European countries that have delivered efficiency and competitiveness benefits for industry and services, and now we face the challenge of integrating cogeneration with renewable technologies, providing flexibility and future solutions for decarbonisation in all sectors."
The members of the judging jury were Alexandra Tudoroiu-Lakavice (COGEN Europe); Erwin Cornelis; Hans Vandersyppe (COGEN Flanders); Harry Trump (CENTRAX); Jean-Philippe Perrot (Solvay); Jeremy Harrison (LCP Delta); Malgosia Rybak (Cepi); Matthew James (Energy Post); Dr Max Fette (Fraunhofer IFAM); Nicola Rega (CEFIC); Rodrigo Álvarez (ACOGEN); Dr Simon Minett (Challoch Energy), and me.
