Combined Heat and Power for Industry

Europe and other parts of the world have long recognized the benefit and energy savings regarding in-situ power generation and the associated use of recovered heat. This is partly from a reality regarding energy costs that are in some cases many multiples of what we pay in North America. Companies that are not afraid to invest in infrastructure that makes sense over the long haul, also drive this commitment to CHP. Now it is North America´s turn to realize co-gen is the major game changer in the search for more efficient use of energy. The waste heat lost through the generation of electrical power and the losses associated with transmission and distribution of power from often-remote generating plants account for the second largest use of energy on the planet. That is an astounding fact when we consider the second largest block of energy we utilize is wasted. Up to this point in North America smaller sized co-gen has mostly been utilized in the commercial or the specialized fuel market such as waste gas. This paper and presentation will explain how to locate applications where co-gen fits well in industrial, mining and oil and gas situations. We will provide case study examples including technical and logistic requirements. Each example will include the financial support argument with energy savings and payback calculations. Real life experience will be used to demonstrate the design, install and commissioning process. In many cases this can be a real stumbling block for co-gen installation and some innovative solutions used in actual installations will be discussed. In conclusion, this paper and presentation will provide a high level overview of distributed generation and how the waste heat energy can be utilized. The presentation will be focused on industrial applications with an EPC approach to project implementation.