| AE&E: Planning Beyond Tomorrow |
| Energy Solutions | |||
| Written by Eric Slack | |||
| Wednesday, 30 June 2010 | |||
 Thinking ahead defines this provider of technology, which meets environmental, industrial, waste-to-energy, power generation, and heat recovery needs globally.
AE&E is based in Georgia and is a member of the AE&E Group, which serves the environmental, industrial, energy-from-waste, and power generation sectors on a global basis. The group has a network of companies and/or manufacturing facilities in more than 30 countries. “We are part of A-TEC Industries AG, which is a holding company with four conglomerates under it, including the AE&E Group,” said Tony Hawranko, AE&E’s vice president of the steam generators and plants business in the US. “We are its location in the US, and we are responsible for North and Latin America, depending on the product line.”  Tony Hawranko, vice president Like the wider AE&E Group, AE&E is focused on the development and deployment of technologies for thermal power generation and environmental engineering. This requires a culture committed to close cooperation and collaboration with customers, suppliers, and universities. The goal is to improve and maximize performance, functionality, and cost effectiveness of combustion, steam generation, heat recovery, and flue gas cleaning systems. Striving to maintain a place of technological leadership in the market, research and development takes place all over the world, and the predominance of manufacturing is done in Europe and Asia. The group has its own pilot plants and test facilities for CCS projects, and it has close working relationships with universities to ensure theoretical research and practical testing go hand-in-hand. “AE&E is unique from a manufacturing perspective because we actually still own our own facilities. We do subcontract occasionally, but the first option is to use our own manufacturing capabilities,” Hawranko said. “Depending on the product type we are offering or bringing to market, one of the facilities in our group will be the choice for the product.” One of AE&E’s primary goals in terms of the performance of its equipment is the reduction of greenhouse gases. Fossil fuels are replaced by renewable alternatives fired in its fluidized bed boilers, and the company’s research is aimed at reaching a zero emission level of CO2 by sequestering the gas that would otherwise be emitted by fossil fuel-fired power plants. “From a renewable energy point of view, we stand out in North America because we are the only supplier on the continent that can offer a complete, full line of the combustion and air pollution control technologies to our customer base,” said Hawranko. “That allows us to model ourselves as a single point source for our customers. In today’s financial environment, this is important to customers and banks because banks want to know that there is a point source responsibility for the project they can wrap their arms around and make the project work.” The company has reorganized a bit since last year, as it is now separated into business units responsible for products globally. Four business units are represented here in the US by AE&E. Hawranko runs the steam generators and plants unit; the other units are air pollution control, service, and energy from waste. Each unit reports to its respective global product business. Hawranko said reorganization was necessary because the company wanted to refocus on products instead of geography. Rather than have one business responsible for many products within a defined geographic area, the company now has global oversight on products in product divisions. That allows the company to focus on what it does best, which is bringing technology to customers around the planet. One project Hawranko highlighted was with Evergreen Community Power (ECP) in Reading, Pa. ECP is part of Interstate Resources’ energy division and generates 30 MW that can be used by its sister company paper mill, United Corrstack. Excess power is sold to the local utility grid. ECP can now combust waste from not only its own processes, but it can collect waste and receive tipping fees from collecting waste in areas around its plant. Hawranko said ECP is even receiving some construction and demolition waste from as far away as New York City to use in the combustion process. Reaching the market AE&E is focused on working with the global group to improve technology so it can market its products more broadly. A lot of that is dependent on retaining the people within the company that serve as its experts. Hawranko believes the company’s greatness is inextricably tied to the intellectual expertise the company has globally. “We can draw on experts from all of our offices. For example, our heat recovery steam generator business can draw on experts form the Czech Republic and Australia, and our renewable energy biomass-fired equipment and fluidized bed boilers can rely on our offices in Austria,” he said. “It is an advantage for us to have people around the world that can help us bring our technologies to this market.” Fortunately, the changing public mindset toward power generation bodes well for AE&E’s future. Hawranko now sees a push for clean energy coming from Americans, and American corporations, like never before. That means the need for companies like AE&E to step up to the plate and provide their services will only be greater in the future. As existing fossil fuel-fired generators change the way they make energy and use more alternative fuels like biomass, construction and demolition waste, and refuse-derived fuel, AE&E can show them how to operate existing equipment with a few modifications. Clearly, the market still has some catching up to do financially, and a number of projects are in a holding pattern based on developers and owners obtaining an acceptable equity position to get the projects off the ground. In the meantime, AE&E has attempted to amplify its service business to help customers keep their assets running until new projects can move forward. “In the immediate future, that will influence the way we operate. We will continue new business development and new plants, but we have to acknowledge that they will be slow,” said Hawranko. “Therefore, we must help existing customers and users of power generation equipment meet current environmental standards and potential renewable portfolio standards that are being driven through legislation in any way we can until the financial markets loosen up.” |
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