s CHP
SEPA COMBINED HEAT AND
POWER PARTNERSHIP
Combined Heat and Power
Efficient Energy for Local Governments
Is My Facility a Good
Candidate for CHP?
If you answer "yes" to 3 or more of
these of these questions, your facili-
ty may be good candidate for CHP.
Do you pay more than $0.06/kilo-
watt hour (kWh) on average for
electricity (including generation,
transmission, and distribution)?
Are you concerned about the
impact of current or future
energy costs?
Is your facility located in a
deregulated electricity market?
Are you concerned about power
reliability?
Does your facility operate more
than 5,000 hours per year?
Do you have thermal loads
throughout the year (including
steam, hot water, chilled water,
process heat, etc.)?
Local governments are using combined heat and power (CHP) to
reduce their operating costs, provide a hedge against volatile
energy costs, increase their energy efficiency, and reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants from the
combustion of fossil fuel.
What Is CHP?
CHP, also referred to as cogeneration, is an efficient, clean, and reliable
approach to generating electric power and useful thermal energy from a single
fuel source. CHP systems achieve fuel-use efficiencies of 60 to 80 percent, com-
pared to average fossil-fueled power plant efficiencies of 33 percent in the
United States. This significant efficiency benefit occurs because CHP applica-
tions involve the recovery of otherwise wasted heat to produce additional power
or useful thermal energy for heating, cooling, or other mechanical processes. By
making use of the waste heat from onsite electricity production, CHP increases
energy efficiency and decreases energy costs.
CHP is not a specific technology, but an application of technologies to meet an
energy user's needs. These technologies include reciprocating engines, combus-
tion or gas turbines, steam turbines, microturbines, or fuel cells as the prime
mover and fossil fuels, biomass, or biogas as the fuel source. The thermal energy
from CHP systems can be used in direct process applications or indirectly to pro-
duce steam, hot water, hot air for drying, or chilled water for process cooling.
Where Can Local Governments Use CHP?
Local government facilities can utilize CHP systems in:
Wastewater treatment facilities
Landfills
Government buildings
District energy systems
K-12 schools and community colleges
Hospitals and health centers
What Is the EPA CHP Partnership?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) CHP Partnership is a voluntary
EPA-industry effort designed to foster cost-effective CHP projects. The goal of
the CHP Partnership is to build relationships among EPA, the CHP industry, state
and local governments, and other stakeholders to expand the use of CHP.
Through 2006, CHP Partners installed more than 3,550 megawatts (MW) of
CHP with Partnership assistance. The resulting carbon dioxide emission savings
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are equivalent to removing the annual emissions of more
than 1.7 million automobiles.
What Resources Are Available?
Education and Outreach
The CHP Partnership provides information for regulators,
policymakers, and utilities to encourage energy efficiency
and CHP, as well as peer-to-peer marketing and network-
ing at workshops and conferences. Models of state poli-
cies for promoting CHP, such as output-based emission
regulations, CHP-friendly utility rates, and renewable
portfolio standards that include CHP are also maintained
online and in various Partnership publications.
Technical Assistance
The CHP Partnership has developed services and tools to
assist those considering implementing CHP at their facili-
ties. Visit the Streamlining Project Development
pages of the Partnership Web site at www.epa.gov/chp/
project-development/index.html to learn more about the
CHP project development process, whom to involve on
your CHP project team, typical options for system financ-
ing, and other services EPA provides.
Project Resources
Take advantage of the CHP Partnership's up-to-date lists
of state and federal incentives (e.g., rebates, tax credits,
loans, grants) for CHP, along with lists of regulatory rules
and rates that are advantageous to clean distributed
generation. This information is updated monthly on the
Funding Resources pages of the Partnership Web site
at: www. epa. gov/chp/funding/funding. html.
Public Recognition
EPA's ENERGY STAR CHP Award recognizes highly effi-
cient CHP projects that achieve fuel and emission savings
over comparable state-of-the-art separate heat and
power. EPA accepts award applications continuously and
presents these awards at key events. For more informa-
tion on applying for an ENERGY STAR CHP Award, visit
www.epa.gov/chp/public-recognition/awards.html.
CHP in Use in Local Governments
More than 800 municipal governments currently use CHP,
generating over 6,300 MW of electricity. The following
case studies from local governments provide examples of
recent successful CHP installations.
District Energy Saint Paul
St. Paul, Minnesota
District Energy Saint Paul's 25 MW CHP plant captures the
waste heat from a wood-fired power plant, reducing
District Energy's reliance on coal by 80 percent, soot emis-
sions by 50 percent, and greenhouse gas emissions by
280,000 tons each year. The resulting carbon dioxide
emission savings are equivalent to removing the annual
emissions of more than 200,000 automobiles. The CHP
plant heats more than 170 buildings and 300 single-family
homes, representing over 29 million square feet of build-
ing space, or about 80 percent of Saint Paul's central busi-
ness district. The reduced energy use saves customers
$32 million each year, and the savings increase as natural
gas prices rise.
The plant was completed in 2003 and uses urban wood
waste as a fuel source, thereby diverting items from the
local waste stream.
Essex Junction Wastewater Treatment Facility
Essex Junction, Vermont
Essex Junction's wastewater treatment facility uses two 30
kilowatt (kW) microturbines to generate electricity and
thermal energy from the methane gas produced by its
digester. Before CHP was installed, the plant used only half
of the methane it produced. Now the plant uses 100 per-
cent of the methane produced to heat the anaerobic
digester, saving 412,000 kWh and $37,000 each year.
These energy savings represent 36 percent of the facility's
electricity demand. The project has an estimated payback
of seven years.
For more information about the EPA CHP Partnership, including how to join, contact:
rĞi PR
Felicia Ruiz, Program Manager
Tel.: (202) 343-9129
Fax: (202) 343-2208
E-mail: ruiz.felicia@epa.gov
Web site: www.epa.gov/chp
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