What is a CHP system?
Combined heat and power ( CHP ) is a highly efficient process that captures and utilises the heat that is a by-product of the electricity generation process. CHP systems are highly efficient, making use of the heat which would otherwise be wasted when generating electrical or mechanical power.
Are CHP systems good?
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is a great avenue to achieve energy efficiency, reduce emissions, and promote resiliency. Simply, there are significant direct and indirect financial savings that CHP provides by lowering direct energy costs and by helping you to avoid environmental compliance costs.
How do CHP systems work?
Fuel cell CHP technology generates electricity by taking energy from fuel at a chemical level rather than burning it. The hydrogen then reacts with oxygen in the fuel cell to produce electricity. Waste heat is produced in this process, which is used within a hot water heating system.
What are the disadvantages of CHP?
Disadvantages of CHP
- it requires space for the CHP “energy centre”
- it requires large diameter heavily insulated metal piping for the hot water network.
- it suffers heat losses to the ground.
- set up costs to administer and run the central “energy centre” over the whole life of the system.
What is CHP efficiency?
CHP is an energy efficient technology that generates electricity and captures the heat that would otherwise be wasted to provide useful thermal energy—such as steam or hot water—that can be used for space heating, cooling, domestic hot water and industrial processes.
Why is CHP not widely used?
The main initial ‘disadvantages’ of a combined heat and power system is that it is capital intensive and that it is not seen as a “true” sustainable energy source (being predominately fuelled by natural gas) unless it can be used with renewable fuels such as Biogas produced from AD plants, or Hydrogen mixture.