U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Distributed Energy Program — CHP Applications

Projects

Many CHP projects are implemented by regional application centers that were established by DOE to facilitate the deployment of CHP technologies. The Distributed Energy Program also directly sponsors CHP applications projects covering a range of activities in the following areas.

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CHP Outreach and Education

Eighteen CHP Application projects support implementation of the CHP Roadmap in the areas of raising CHP awareness, eliminating regulatory and institutional barriers, and developing CHP markets and technologies.

Raising CHP Awareness

There is a tremendous need to educate citizens, business executives, and public policy makers on the merits of clean energy generation using combined heat and power. Raising awareness requires a multifaceted strategy. The projects listed below focus primarily on raising CHP awareness, so that barriers to CHP can be eliminated and advanced CHP technologies and markets enhanced.

  • Raising CHP Awareness (PDF 526 KB) — Energetics, Inc.
  • CHP Awareness and Barrier-Busting Technical Assistance to Facilitate Implementation of CHP in the District Energy Sector (PDF 294 KB) — International District Energy Association
  • CHP Applications and DE Regional and State Initiatives (PDF 278 KB) — Northeast-Midwest Institute
  • Winners by Association: An Awareness Campaign to Tailor and Disseminate the CHP Message to End-Use Sectors with High Potential for CHP Utilization (PDF 422 KB) — U.S. Combined Heat and Power Association
  • Regional CHP Application Centers (PDF 295 KB) — Power Equipment Associates

Elimination of Regulatory and Institutional Barriers

Although some CHP systems are commercially viable today, developers have difficulty installing them because of roadblocks in siting, permitting, and interconnecting. The projects listed below focus primarily on eliminating barriers, but also contribute to raising CHP awareness, and to the enhancement of advanced CHP technologies and markets.

  • ACEEE Teamwork in Implementing the CHP Roadmap (PDF 295 KB) — American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)
  • Analysis of Environmental Regulatory Barriers and Incentives for CHP (PDF 466 KB) — Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc.
  • DER Stakeholder Collaboration at Work: Shaping a California DER Procurement (PDF 287 KB) — Distributed Utility Associates

Developing CHP Markets and Technologies

CHP currently accounts for approximately 40% of the nation's non-utility generation capacity and 7% of total generation capacity. Doubling CHP capacity by 2010 involves raising awareness and eliminating barriers. It also involves concerted activities in each of the four primary target market sectors to develop better technologies, integrated CHP system packages, and strategies for selling those systems to potential end users. Listed below are projects that focus on developing markets and technologies, but certainly play a part in raising CHP awareness and eliminating barriers.

  • CHP Applications and Analytical Support (PDF 474 KB) — Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc.
  • Enhancements to Distributed Generation Operational Reliability Database (PDF 368 KB) — Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc.
  • CHP Deployment in the Pacific Northwest (PDF 1.2 MB) — Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc.
  • Analysis of Industrial and Commercial CHP Markets (PDF 330 KB) — Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc.
  • Market Potential for Opportunity Fuels in CHP Applications (PDF 330 KB) — Resource Dynamics Corp.
  • Review of Distributed Generation Siting Procedures (PDF 292 KB) — Resource Dynamics Corp.
  • CHP Technical Materials for Target National Accounts Market Sector (PDF 279 KB) — Energy Resources Center, University of Illinois

Industrial Sector

A large portion of existing and potential future distributed generation installations is found in the industrial sector. Methodologies to illustrate the value of distributed generation technologies and to accelerate the process of integrating such resources into industrial plants are being conducted. Various projects (PDF 626 KB) measure reliability and availability, industrial integration methodologies, and the capabilities of assessment tools. A 2005 update on one of these projects (in the metal-plating industry) is available (PDF 543 KB).

High-Tech Data Industry

In high-tech industries, the use of electronic data and signal processing has become a cornerstone of our country's e-commerce. Because of the concentrated electronics and related large cooling loads of high-tech industries, they require very energy-intensive equipment, on a per unit area basis. Furthermore, ultrahigh reliability and power quality are critical to strategic information systems. Desired power reliability for these applications is often expressed as "the six 9s" (99.9999%) or even higher.

A collaborative project (PDF 288 KB) involving end-users, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, utilities and other energy providers, and engineering firms is under way as a result of a high-tech industry solicitation. This project addresses elements of design and engineering, equipment integration and controls, and performance monitoring of DE in a high-tech data application. Read the 2005 project update (PDF 385 KB).

National Accounts Energy Alliance

The National Accounts Energy Alliance (NAEA) is a national DE-based partnership program focused on Fortune 1000 companies, and national chain end-users, including the retail, supermarket, food service, hotel, and health care industries. The NAEA program is the first "post-deregulation" partnership in which energy managers from these important industries have offered their facilities as test sites for the deployment, testing and verification, marketing, and educational efforts relating to distributed energy. More information may be found in a report (PDF 3.3 MB), of the National Account Sector Energy Profiles.

NAEA program partners have thousands of facilities across the nation, are actively engaged in new construction and retrofit projects, and use a "central box" design for most, if not all, of their facilities. The NAEA approach will be used to work with national chains to redesign and reengineer their central boxes to incorporate highly efficient DE systems, in hopes of creating a paradigm shift in favor of DE in the marketplace. There is significant CHP market potential (PDF 463 KB), in five of the National Account Sectors and the DE program has several integrated system projects (PDF 4.9 MB), underway.

Hospital Sector

The CHP Initiative for Hospitals (PDF 1.3 MB), is working to improve the way energy is produced and used in hospitals. Already, more than 200 hospitals and health care facilities nationwide have discovered how CHP can help them reach peak performance and lower their energy costs by up to 50%.

The CHP Initiative for Hospitals seeks to raise awareness of the energy, economic, and environmental benefits of CHP. To accomplish this, it is working to coordinate with the American Hospital Association (AHA) to form a Hospital CHP Advisory Panel, conduct outreach and educational sessions during major American Society of Healthcare Engineering conferences, survey hospital industry leaders on their CHP needs, and encourage hospitals to implement CHP projects.

Hospitals are excellent candidates for CHP systems because they have high electrical and thermal energy needs that generally follow each other and have significant energy demands 24/7/365. Many hospitals across the country are discovering the power of CHP for improving their bottom line and operational capabilities. More than 200 hospitals and health care facilities nationwide are using CHP to lower energy costs by up to 50% and decrease power outages and interruptions by up to 95%.

Map of Hospital Locations with existing DG/CHP Systems.

Fact sheets for the following hospitals using CHP systems are available:

If you are interested in assessing whether a CHP system would be economically attractive for your hospital, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) can perform the first-level preliminary screening at no cost to you. Send your hospital information in a form that you can download (Excel 29 KB) and follow the instructions in the form for submitting your data.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory led a team of experts who increased visibility for DOE sponsored DG/CHP programs at the 40th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) on July 14-16, 2003. Outreach activities at this event included a Workshop, an Exhibit, and a survey questionnaire.

In November 2003, Hospital & Health Networks, a major Website for hospital and healthcare communities, published three inciting and informative articles on Alternative Energy options featuring CHP applications in hospitals:

  1. Hospitals Explore The Benefits of Combined Heat & Power
  2. Putting All The Pieces Together

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Content Last Updated: 05/18/2006

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