OREANDA-NEWS. GE (NYSE: GE) today announced that a Coca-Cola bottling facility in Brazil will install three of GE’s Jenbacher natural gas engines to power a new 12-megawatt (MW) quadgeneration plant to help meet the factory’s on-site power and heating requirements.

Brazilian energy company Light Esco will install three ecomagination-qualified Jenbacher J624 engines at the Andina Brasil-Coca-Cola bottling facility in Jacarepaguá, outside Rio de Janeiro. GE delivered the three, 4-MW engines in January 2013, and the power plant is expected to begin operating in November 2013.

Typical cogeneration systems generate cost-effective supplies of electricity and heat, but Coca-Cola Andina’s quadgeneration plant also will produce cold water, carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen to support the bottling operations. By installing quadgeneration technology to recover food-grade CO₂, factories can reduce emissions by up to an additional 40 percent when compared to using separate power and heat generating equipment.[1]

“Installing GE’s reliable Jenbacher gas engines for Andina Brasil—Coca-Cola’s new on-site power plant will help the bottling factory expand production capacity to meet the projected increase in demand for its products during the upcoming World Cup in 2014 and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games,” said Nilson Alegre, factory manager, Andina Brasil–Coca Cola.

Similar to other distributed power solutions GE has helped customers deploy, Coca-Cola will be able to sell the quadgeneration plant’s surplus electricity on the free market.

“Our project with Light and Andina Brasil-Coca-Cola illustrates how GE’s Jenbacher gas engines are supporting an increasingly diverse array of on-site power and heating projects around the world,” said Karl Wetzlmayer, general manager of Gas Engines—GE Power & Water. “For customers located in areas that require significant investments to upgrade their local transmission grids, our Jenbacher distributed power technology offers a reliable and cost-effective alternative that gives businesses the power to more efficiently manage and produce their own energy supply.”

Along with the three J624 units, GE’s scope of supply includes maintenance services, emergency spare parts and a resident technician to ensure the availability of the Andina Brasil-Coca-Cola combined heat and power (CHP) plant. The project highlights an important trend in Brazil as companies seek ways to meet the country’s high demand for energy. Economic growth has been a boon to the region and its energy consumption. In just the past decade, Brazil’s energy use has increased by close to a third according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.