Executive Chairman of 1414 Degrees, Dr. Kevin Moriarty, said, “This marks a pivotal phase in the commissioning process, firing the burners for the first time and heating up the thermal energy store. Importantly, we will pay for the biogas we use and sell electricity at market prices to test the revenue model.”
South Australian Minister for Energy and Mining, Dan van Holst Pellekaan, launched the GAS-TESS by releasing the biogas from the wastewater digestors.
Commenting on the project, he said, “This shows South Australia is leading energy technology development, something the Marshall Government is fully committed to. 1414 Degrees’ TESS is the result of collaboration within our state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, leading to global opportunities for SA.“
The GAS-TESS will enable SA Water to time-shift the use of its biogas to produce electricity and heat on demand, rather than use the biogas as its generated.
SA Water’s CEO Roch Cheroux, commented, “Time shifting of heat and electricity output from the GAS-TESS is expected to provide more control over heat flows to maximize our biogas generation and result in reduced costs of our energy requirements.”
Globally, biogas is an increasingly important source of energy, from wastewater management to agri-business and landfill gas.
The GAS-TESS is co-funded by the South Australian Government’s Renewable Technology Fund (RTF) and 1414 Degrees shareholders. The development of the technology was assisted with a grant from the Federal Government’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. Executive Chairman Dr Kevin Moriarty said “We have a clear vision to scale our clean TESS technology to gigawatt hour capacity and stabilize renewable generation. Our progress today marks another step forward.”
The company commissioned its 10MWh electrically charged TESS-IND in late 2018, which was verified by international certification agency Bureau Veritas. The initial prototype was successfully demonstrated in 2016.
