Mercury 50 to power Manhattan cogeneration plant

Two Mercury gas turbines will serve cogeneration needs of a 240,000 sq. feet data center in Manhattan. The turbine exhaust will drive the adsorption chilling system, which will consume little parasitic power. Some of the waste heat will be used to generate steam for winter heating.

The Mercury 50 boasts of a ISO heat rate of around 9,350 KJ/kW-hr for 46 MWe, which is among the highest for industrial gas turbines of similar power. The Mercury is a recuperated gas turbine. The exhaust gas is tapped to heat incoming air in heat exchanger — a result of the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Turbine Systems program. 

Cooling could potentially consume 25% of the total power produced in the data center, out of which some 20% can be met by waste heat recovery.