Helping your company go green
CHP is an important part of America’s energy future. Using conventional methods (large utility power plants) the national average for converting fuel to electric power (fuel-use efficiency) is about 33%. This means that the remaining 67% of the fuel energy is wasted: either being exhausted into the atmosphere or discharged into water streams. CHP systems recover part of that wasted energy by recovering ~55% of the waste energy in the exhaust to provide the heating, cooling, and/or dehumidification needs of co-located buildings and/or industrial processes. Combining that with a ~30% fuel energy conversion to electricity, CHP systems can have a fuel-use efficiency as high as 85%. With efficiencies this high, CHP facilities typically meet local, state and/or federal standards to qualify for the tax incentives associated with the renewable energy classification of power production.
Maximizing your facility’s electrical and thermal efficiencies can help toward achieving LEED certification, an increasingly important marketing point for those customers concerned with the environment.
CHP example: As landfills in this country are encapsulated, the methane gas that is generated within the landfill can be used to fuel reciprocating engines in a cogeneration power plant. These engines are specially designed to run on the lower quality landfill-generated gas, making the operation of the entire power generating facility very economical as they produce both electricity and heat from the decaying waste.
Solar power example: MMR Power Solutions recently developed and sold the Mt. Signal Solar PV project to First Solar. The project, now named Campo Verde, is a 200MW dc solar PV project located in Imperial County, California. It has a long term power sales contract with San Diego Gas & Electric.