Danish firm EC Power briefs committee on small combined heat‑and‑power units as grid support option

Anders Thorsen, CEO of EC Power U.S., and David McCurry of NextGen Mechanical presented a demonstration and overview of the company’s XRGI combined heat-and-power unit. Thorsen described the product as a packaged system that uses a Toyota internal-combustion engine driving a generator while capturing exhaust heat for hot water and building heating, claiming up to roughly 90% combined efficiency compared with centralized power plants.

Thorsen said the units run on natural gas or propane, are hydrogen‑ready, and can operate in island (black‑start) mode when combined with battery storage. David McCurry described local installation use-cases including multifamily housing, schools, smaller data centers and production facilities that have limited grid capacity and need both power and heat on site. The presenters said the units are compact (can pass through a standard door), quiet (tested near 49 dB enclosure), scalable (multiple units can be cascaded) and, in some projects, have received partial support through National Grid rebate programs.

Committee members asked about permitting (local mechanical permits plus state burner/boiler permits), emissions and pending CARB (California Air Resources Board) and UL approvals, cyber and product-safety considerations, gas infrastructure implications, and whether the unit would meaningfully reduce carbon compared with conventional boilers and grid power. Presenters said EPA and UL approvals are being pursued and that the company hopes to manufacture components in the U.S. They invited members to visit the Smithfield demo site.