With a combined heat and powerplant, some of those 76 wasted BTUs that were going out the stack are captured, generally as steam or hot water that can get piped around and used for heat.
Supermarket giant Tesco has recently been given a green light to build Britain's first ever straw-powered Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant to meet the electricity and heating needs of one of its distribution centres.
Existing membranes cater to the desalination industry and haven't combined the two essential features needed for an osmotic powerplant, said Skilhagen.
Equipment ordered during the third quarter included two concrete batch plants and associated crushing and screening plants, and also the first phase of the powerplant, including three gas turbines with a combined capacity of 120 megawatts, Thomas said.