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Cogeneration: An Industrial Steam and Power Option
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Date
1993-03
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Publisher
Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.eslwin.tamu.edu)
Abstract
Industrial facilities of all sizes have the ability to reduce and better control both power and steam costs with a cogeneration system. Unlike the larger systems that sell almost all of the cogenerated power to a regulated electric utility, these internal use systems use the cogenerated power on-site to reduce power purchases. Ranging from a few hundred kilowatts to tens of megawatts, they are somewhat smaller than the Wholesale Power systems; system size is determined by the industrial plant's electric and thermal requirements and not by an external need for power by a utility.
These systems can be very cost effective but require considerably more engineering analysis of site conditions than is typical for a Wholesale Power Project; it is necessary to analyze the industrial host's power and thermal requirements on an hour by hour basis. Moreover, because economic viability is dependent upon displacing some or all of the industrial site's purchased power requirements, considerable attention must be given to the analysis of the local utility's retail rates.
This paper describes the concept of an Internal Use cogeneration system and reviews some of the key factors that must be considered in evaluating the viability of a cogeneration facility at any specific industrial site.
Description
Keywords
On-Site Cogeneration System