East Kilbride-based Heliex Power (www.heliexpower.com) has completed its first order from Austria by installing its process steam recovery technology as part of a district heating scheme.

The company’s 132kW GenSet unit has been fitted to a modified 6MW biomass-fired co-generation plant owned by Austrian renewable-energy project developer Nahwaerme.at, in the town of Oberturm, near Salzburg.

The system will enable the plant to produce energy from the ‘wet’ (or saturated) steam produced by its biomass boiler, providing power and heat to the local area.

Heliex says that the system will pay for itself in less than two years, supported by Austria’s feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme for small combined heat and power (CHP) applications.

Chris Armitage, Heliex Power CEO, said: “The GenSet is ideal for district heating schemes; it’s flexible and delivers a consistent power output.

“This example in Austria is just the latest in a series of projects we’re involved in that have direct economic and sustainability benefits for local communities.”

The firm has been selling its GenSet system since 2013 and has exported almost 50 units to Poland, France, Italy and other countries. Further afield, an analysis by a potential joint-venture partner in China suggested that the world’s most-populous country could use up to a million GenSets.

Mr Armitage added that his firm has “had particular success in Italy, where electricity prices tend to be high, and has identified a number of other countries on the continent as markets with significant opportunities for us.”