Exploiting unused efficiency potential with intelligent CHP solutions

Annual energy consumption in Germany is approx. 2,500 TWh – of which only about 600 TWh goes for electrical power and around 1,200 TWh for heating. Since the greatest possible energy savings can therefore be achieved for provision of heating, in-plant heat production by highly efficient CHPs offers an intelligent solution. Cogeneration of electricity and heating also enables greater independence from major increases in electricity costs. Currently, biomass and natural-gas CHPs are doubly attractive, since their development has led to significantly greater electrical efficiency. Efficiency potentials unused until now can, for example, be exploited by combined heat, cooling, and power solutions (CHCP) – particularly in industrial sectors such as the food and beverage industry, in which high levels of heat and refrigeration requirements occur in parallel. Increasing requirements placed on building climate control likewise positively enhance CHCP benefits, which compensate for the absence of heat sinks in the summer. The intelligent application of electric heat pumps – e.g., in central CHP heating complexes operated by municipal utilities for district heating networks – can be used to increase return-flow temperature levels in the mains. The heat source for the heat pump in such cases is primarily the radiant heat from the actual CHP modules in machine rooms – heat that typically goes unused.