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OYSTER BAY, New
York, August 5, 1999 (ENS) - The global emphasis on reducing greenhouse gas
emissions has moved cogeneration into a strong position for bulk power
generation, according to a study from Allied Business Intelligence, Inc. (ABI)
Cogeneration, or cogen, is the generation of electricity and the use of the heat given off by
that generation for applications such as boiling water, heating buildings,
industrial processes or district heating.
Global generation
of electricity from cogeneration is now close to 200 gigawatts, nearly 6.5
percent of the world's total generating capacity.
Aggressive
encouragement by the U.S. and European governments, with tax credits and carbon
credits, could push this level above ten percent by 2010.
Burning fossil
fuels to generate electricity releases one ton of carbon dioxide for each
kilowatt-hour of power.
"Since
central power plants waste 40 percent to 66 percent of their thermal output,
on-site cogeneration can be twice as cost-effective while drastically cutting
down the amount of carbon dioxide released," says the report's author, ABI
senior analyst Michael Kujawa.
Trigen's Gray's
Ferry cogeneration plant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania opened in 1997. (Photo
courtesy Trigen) The use of
cogeneration around the world varies. U.S. capacity is six percent, close to the
international average, but ranges from 60 percent in Sweden to 2.5 percent in
France.
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Consuming one fuel
to perform two or three functions requires less fuel to obtain the same amount
of work, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions quickly.
Cogeneration uses
gas turbines, diesel and gas engines, fuel cells or microturbines, and ABI
estimates that equipment sales could total $10 billion in a decade in
residential, commercial and remote applications.
"If
cogeneration expands as we expect it to, the rate of damage to the atmosphere
will be greatly reduced," Kujawa predicts.
In Australia, over
100 member organisations belong to the Australian Cogeneration Association (ACA).
The ACA says that in comparison to more traditional methods, cogeneration
can double efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over two-thirds
because cogeneration harnesses heat that would otherwise be wasted in the fuel
combustion process. It produces two useful outputs: heat and power. The heat can
be converted into a number of applications such as steam, hot water and cooling.
In the past, it has been difficult to implement cogeneration effectively in
Australia due to market restrictions. These barriers are slowly being lifted
through energy market reform and education.
Cogeneration is
seen as the most cost-effective means for Australia to meet its greenhouse gas
emission reduction targets set at the Kyoto Climate Change Summit in 1997. It is
being promoted to Australian industry as a key technology. Cogeneration forms a
key part of several Commonwealth government programs: the National Greenhouse
Strategy, the Two Per Cent Renewables initiative, the Energy Showcase Program
and the Greenhouse Challenge Program.
In Canada, utilities are
turning on to cogeneration. September 3, 1998 construction began on the
Cdn$160 million Meridian Cogeneration Project in Lloydminster,
Saskatchewan. The natural gas-fired facility, a joint venture between
Husky and TransAlta, will supply electricity to SaskPower and steam to the
Husky Oil Lloydminster Upgrader. The 25-year supply contract represents
SaskPower's first large-scale cogeneration energy purchase.
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Cogeneration at
the tissue paper manufacturing plant of Fort James UK Ltd., in Bridgend, South
Wales started up in 1995. (Photo courtesy National Power)
The European
Association for the Promotion of Cogeneration, COGEN Europe, says that it is
possible to increase the cogeneration's share of power generation in Europe to
30 percent by 2010 at very little cost, if the right incentives are put in
place. The industry group includes more than 150 power companies, power
authorities and companies involved in cogeneration in 29 countries.
Possible
incentives COGEN suggests are: exemptions of cogeneration from energy taxes;
strict limits on emissions for combustion plants; requiring energy producers to
purchase energy from cogeneration plants, and encouraging city authorities or
other investors to finance cogeneration schemes.
These efforts will be driven by the opening of the gas market to
competition in 1999, which will allow cogenerators to compete for supply
contracts.
COGEN Europe's
chairman Ton van der Does said in a briefing July 2 in Brussels that there is
"a clear role for cogeneration" in developing countries. "Turning
to a proper evaluation of how to fulfill the energy demand in emerging markets
like Africa, China and India. We hope that they will not make the same
'mistakes' by investing in an energy supply system, designed and operated under
the centralized monopoly philosophy, as we have done in the Western World,
especially considering the new flexible and efficient technologies now
available."
"Looking to the
market and the growing electricity demands in markets in Central and Eastern
Europe, there is a transformation to liberalisation and privatisation and the
consequences for real pricing. There
is also the demand for a cleaner energy production," all of which makes
cogeneration an attractive option, van der Does said.
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