POWER February 2015 - 25

COMBINED HEAT AND POWER
Global CHP Still Struggling to
Break Out of Its Niche
Courtesy: Lahti Energy
Despite its efficiency and environmental benefits, combined heat and power (CHP)
generation has languished at around 10% of worldwide capacity for more than a
decade. But a global review shows growth in some sectors and promising new
technology on the way.
Thomas W. Overton, JD
T
he statistics are both eye-opening and
somewhat depressing. Globally, according
to the International Energy
Agency (IEA), thermal power plants operate
at around 36% average efficiency, while
combined heat and power (CHP), or cogeneration
plants, beat that by a wide margin,
with an average 58% efficiency. The most
efficient coal-fired thermal plants currently
achieve around 45% efficiency, while stateof-the-art
combined cycle plants can manage
a bit more than 60%. Meanwhile, the most
modern cogeneration plants can reach 90%
efficiency, with some small specialty plants
that capture water and CO2 streams in addition
to heat and power managing efficiencies
close to 100%.
Yet CHP is in many ways a sector running
in reverse, or at least neutral.
In 1990, according to IEA data, global
electricity production from CHP accounted
February 2015 | POWER
for about 14% of the total. By 2000, that figure
had fallen to around 10%, where it has
largely remained ever since. This is despite
enormous pressure in the developed world
toward greater energy efficiency and carbon
emissions reductions over the past two-anda-half
decades.
What's the problem? According to observers,
there are two: policy and infrastructure.
Making use of heat from a cogeneration plant
requires infrastructure in addition to power
transmission, and a plant developer must be
able to serve demand profitably in two different
markets. In the case of district heating
(DH)-one of the primary uses of CHP
around the world-and steam-powered district
cooling (DC), the infrastructure requirements
are substantial and require significant
public planning to implement. Meanwhile,
energy markets that are not structured for
the unique challenge of selling both heat and
www.powermag.com
power often serve as economic disincentives
to CHP, even in regions where there is good
demand for it.
Still, there is some cause for optimism.
The efficiency benefits of CHP have led to
renewed interest in capturing those advantages
for carbon reduction and new movement
toward policy reforms and incentives.
The European Union's (EU's) 2012 Energy
Efficiency Directive requires that CHP be
considered for any new or substantially refurbished
generation facility. In addition,
many European countries have used policy
tools such as feed-in tariffs to support CHP
or include it in other benefits available to renewable
generation. Meanwhile, similar initiatives
are under way in Asia, particularly
China and Japan.
Another key development is the rise of renewable
and small-scale CHP, as older coal-,
oil-, and gas-fired plants give way to biomass
25
http://www.powermag.com
POWER February 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER February 2015
