The organic Rankine cycle is is similar to the Rankine steam cycle, but uses an organic fluid such as refrigerants and hydrocarbons instead of water as the working fluid. The ordinary Rankine cycle uses thermal power to convert water to steam, which expands through a turbine in order to generate electricity.

The Organic Rankine Cycle's principle is based on a turbogenerator working as a conventional steam turbine to transform thermal energy into mechanical energy and finally into electric energy through an electrical generator.

The ORC technology is particularly suitable for the exploitation of medium-to-low enthalpy sources. It is a cost-effective solution with power outputs reaching up to 40 MWe per single generator for sources with water temperature from 100°C to 200°C or higher.

Applicable fluid heat sources are between 70°C and 150°C. Gaseous heat sources above 150°C can also be used with the deployment of a secondary heat exchange loop. Our low-temperature ORC solutions use hot water as fuel in order to generate up to 125 kWe of clean electricity, at no additional cost to the operator.