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Combined Heat and PowerAs you explore the potential for combined heat and power in Texa' energy future, you will want to begin with the resources available through the Gulf Coast CHP Application Center.
In 2007, the Texas CHP Initiative prepared a white paper on CHP, "Twice the Power at Double the Efficiency: Providing Secure Energy in Texas With CHP" (Download PDF).
BackgroundCombined heat and power (CHP) is known as cogeneration to those familiar with CHP applications in Texas. Texas leads the US in CHP applications. Nearly one quarter (23%) of all CHP generation capacity in the US is located in Texas(1). This capacity produces 20% of the electricity in Texas.(2)
 CHP technologies generate electrical and thermal energy in a single, integrated system close to the point of customer energy demand. A typical CHP system consists of a prime mover to generate electricity, a heat recovery system to capture heat, a control system, an exhaust system, and an acoustic enclosure. CHP technologies and systems are well understood, and have been in use since the first days of US commercial power production.
How did this start in Texas?The industrial cogeneration industry in Texas provided a foundation for electric generation fuel efficiency improvements in the 1980's and it led to transformation of the entire Texas electric industry the 1990's.
Heat is a by-product of electric generation and is typically wasted. In fact, cooling towers and ponds increase the costs at most large power plants in Texas. Cooling towers and ponds are required to dispose of "waste" heat. The heat is wasted because the typical large power plant in Texas is located too far from a "heat customer" to be useful; that is, there is no local market for the high quality heat close to the large power plant. Therefore, the heat goes to waste. While that power plant heat is wasted, some miles away the "heat customers" use boilers and other devices to heat water or make process steam when and where they need it.
Why can't these operations (electric and heat production) get together?In Texas, they did in the industrial sector in the 1980's, as soon as the Texas Legislature recognized changes in federal law that allowed industrial customers to have a ready market for excess electrical energy. As a result, industrial customers with large heat needs were able to "cogenerate" -- to simultaneously or sequentially generate electricity and thermal energy (steam) -- in an efficient process that reduced the waste of energy. The energy efficiency or cogeneration or CHP has brought great benefit to the Texas economy.
While there remains significant industrial CHP potential, a far greater potential for CHP growth will be achieved through the application of CHP by commercial and institutional customers. CHP systems of a few megawatts, or even as small as fifty kilowatts, are economical. However, only a committed effort will allow this potential to be realized. The Texas CHP Initiative was formed to address the policy and educational needs for CHP in Texas.
In the future, CHP in Texas will enhance self reliance, security, reliability, and energy efficiency, and it will provide clean energy that reduces waste, lowers air emissions, reduces water use and protects the environment.
FuelsNatural gas is the fuel choice for CHP in Texas, although renewable fuels, such as agricultural wastes, biofuels and landfill gas are commercially attractive in a growing number of locations. The most obvious benefit of a CHP system is its efficient use of the chemical energy released when a fossil fuel is burned. The thermal efficiency of a typical "simple cycle" power plant is 33%, because the heat created through electric generation process is wasted. Combined cycle combustion turbines achieve efficiencies of 55%. By coordinating the generation of electricity with the production of heat, we can do much better.
The capture and use of waste heat allows CHP systems to achieve fuel efficiencies of 60% to 90%. Capturing waste heat requires a capital investment that is returned in energy cost savings over several years. Cogeneration in Texas has been a significant contributor to the Texas economy for 25 years. Now the benefits will come close to smaller customers, and to people who operate hospitals, hotels, elder care facilities, schools, colleges, offices, and local government buildings such as first-responder facilities. (1) USDOE, Energy Information Agency (EIA), 2005 data.
(2) USDOE, Energy Information Agency (EIA), 2006 data.
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