Exploiting Small-scale Cogeneration in Energy-related Markets

The issues related to a sustainable development of the energy sector are pushing towards actions aimed at improving the generation efficiency and towards a more rational use of energy. In order to pursue these objectives, from an economic point of view new energy-related markets have already arisen or potentially could arise in several countries, in which it is possible to trade energy-related commodities such as greenhouse gas emission allowances, energy efficiency (white) certificates, or renewable source (green) certificates. In this paper, an energy-environmental economic model is presented, capable to analyse the profitability of potentially exploiting small-scale (below 1 MWe) cogeneration technologies within such a market framework. In particular, it is shown how the cost of electricity production could consistently drop upon trading of the relevant energy-related commodities, owing to the enhanced efficiency of cogeneration, thus increasing the potential diffusion of high- efficiency distributed technologies for small-scale cogeneration applications. In addition, the need for a suitable regulatory framework is pointed out, aimed at correctly prompting, through the considered markets, the pursued energy efficiency goals.