by Brianna Crandall — November 4, 2013—Underscoring President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut harmful emissions and double energy efficiency, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is taking action to develop the next generation of combined heat and power (CHP) or cogeneration technology and help local communities and businesses make cost-effective investments that save money and energy.
Last year, President Obama established a new national goal of 40 gigawatts of new CHP capacity by 2020 — a 50 percent increase from today. Meeting this goal would help American manufacturers and companies save as much as $100 billion in energy costs over the next decade and reduce emissions equivalent to taking 25 million cars off the road, says the DOE. The Department has created an infographic on how CHP technology works and its environmental and economic benefits.
As part of this effort, the Department launched on October 21 seven new regional Combined Heat and Power Technical Assistance Partnerships across the country—the next generation of CHP centers the DOE has supported since 2003—to help further grow America’s CHP market for commercial, institutional and industrial businesses, state agencies, utilities and trade associations. Located in California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington state, these organizations will offer best practices for CHP project financing, management and state policies, market analysis tools and resources, and technical site evaluations.
Strengthening infrastructure reliability and resilience
CHP technologies can also help make the nation’s infrastructure smarter, stronger and better equipped to maintain power against increasingly severe weather events, notes the DOE. During and after Hurricane Sandy, CHP reportedly helped hospitals, fire stations and multifamily housing in New York and New Jersey continue their operations when the electric grid went down.
The Department of Energy, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a guide to help state and local officials determine if CHP is a good option for Sandy rebuilding efforts. The Guide to Using Combined Heat and Power for Enhancing Reliability and Resiliency in Buildings includes practical information on financial, site and technical decision-making as well as how to operate and maintain these systems.
The Energy Department is also helping critical facilities across the country invest in CHP — providing affordable, reliable power and heat and ensuring that life-saving operations keep running. For example, last year, the Midwest Clean Energy Application Center helped Gundersen Health system complete installation of a CHP system at its medical campus in Onalaska, Wisconsin, completely offsetting its electricity and steam needs and saving about $100,000 each year.
Developing innovative CHP technologies
In addition to technical assistance efforts, the Energy Department is supporting research, development and demonstration projects to help grow the CHP market, including finding CHP solutions that fit small and medium-sized facilities and accelerating new product commercialization.
Industries with high and continuous demand for both electrical and thermal energy — such as food processing, paper manufacturing and metals production — are well suited for CHP installations but often face market and technical barriers to deployment, explains the DOE. With that in mind, the Department is also supporting demonstration projects to test how these systems impact plants’ operations and energy use and help identify financing and maintenance best practices.
In addition, the Department is supporting new CHP technologies that are cleaner, more efficient and can use a variety of fuel sources, such as a combined 65 kilowatt CHP system and biomass gasifier that Capstone Turbine Corporation is designing that can use stalks, grass and other material to generate gas and power a turbine.
