Opportunities to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions for a cogeneration plant

High efficiency of cogeneration systems is one of the major factors that make them attractive for investors. The utilization of these systems is possible by using different strategies such as electrical dispatch, thermal dispatch and a combination of these two methods which is known as hybrid dispatch. In this paper, the efficiency of cogeneration systems is evaluated by some indices such as overall energy saving, thermal efficiency and Energy-Chargeable-to-Power (ECP). Also, the amount of CO₂ production has been calculated by using above operational strategies and in a case of without CHP. Then, all of the operational modes are applied to a local customer having predefined electrical and thermal loads and the results are analyzed. A CHP operator can choose the proper strategy by using the results of this investigation and considering the goal of applying cogeneration technology which fulfills the expectations from such system.