The water-saving measures implemented by Cogentrix will provide significant relief to Battleboro, which is coming out of a two-year drought which affected large areas of North Carolina, including Edgecombe County, where the Cogentrix plant is located. It was the state's worst drought since record keeping began and prompted municipalities throughout the region to implement water-saving measures.
 

Cogentrix sought to improve the overall performance of its cooling system, which was experiencing significant scaling and fouling, resulting in decreased efficiencies, high operational costs and a significant dependence on municipal water for operations. GE provided GenGard technology which enabled the plant to use recycled cooling tower water for lime slakers and pug mills. This results in more than three million gallons of water being reused on an annual basis, reducing the need to tap local fresh water sources and eliminating blowdown discharged into the Tar River.
 

Adrian Peace, business leader for water and process technologies, North America for GE Power & Water said: “This award exemplifies Cogentrix’s commitment to providing sustainable power solutions by maximizing productivity while reducing environmental impact. We are pleased to present Cogentrix with an ecomagination Leadership Award in recognition for their significant efforts in water reuse. We will continue to work with the Cogentrix team to realize additional water and energy savings as well as further efficiencies.”
 

The GE ecomagination Leadership Award is given to the top 1% of GE's water and process technologies customers who demonstrate significant environmental and economical performance improvements, striking a balance among today’s environmental, industrial and sustainability challenges.