Clarke in Cameroon

AGROCAM, a poultry hatchery in Douala, Republic of Cameroon, has purchased a GE J316 Jenbacher gas engine from Clarke Energy. AGROCAM previously used a diesel generator for backup, which proved to be costly given the prolonged hours of grid power outages.

AGROCAM decided that a more stable, reliable and cost-effective source of power was crucial to revive the business, as energy represents about 50% of operational costs.

The GE Jenbacher J316 gas engine will produce 813 kW of power, while heat will be recovered from the hot exhaust gases and injected into the ovens of the egg tray production machines for drying. This will save the cost of fuel currently burned for drying and increase efficiency.

The engine’s two-stage mixture cooling achieves high flexibility, while the turbocharger bypass evens out extreme operating conditions.

“Although many energy users in sub- Saharan Africa understand the benefits of switching to natural gas use in large combined-cycle gas turbine power plants, it wasn’t until more recently that they started seeing the greater energy and environmental benefits of locating smaller high-efficiency combined heat and power in industrial facilities and other buildings,” said Oluwatoyin Abegunde, sales director, sub-Saharan Africa, GE Distributed Power.