Cogeneration/Combined Heat & Power (CHP)

REDUCED OPERATING COSTS VIA HIGH EFFICIENCY COMBINED HEAT & POWER (CHP)

Many industrial facilities such as manufacturing plants, refineries, and regional district heating plants; or commercial facilities such as resorts, shopping malls, high-rise office buildings, universities, data centers, and hospitals, can reduce operating costs by implementing a Cat® CHP system (also known as cogeneration) using clean pipeline natural gas as a fuel source. Cat gas generator sets can simultaneously provide electricity for electrical loads and heat energy for a facility's thermal requirements. Whereas separate grid electricity and natural gas boilers often provide less than 50 percent efficiency, Cat CHP projects offer additional benefits.

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What are the benefits of Cogeneration?

• Energy efficiency up to 90 percent
• Reduced energy costs versus separate heat and electrical generation systems
• Reduced emissions versus separate heat and electrical generation systems
• Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification via energy efficiency credits

Increase efficiency with Heat Recovery

Any Cat natural gas-fuelled engine can be configured specifically for applications involving heat recovery. The engine drives a Cat gas generator set to produce electricity, while jacket water and/or exhaust cooling circuits are fed through heat exchangers (radiators in the case where CHP is not employed) to transfer the waste heat from the engine to a customer's hot water or steam circuit. That hot water or steam can then be effectively used for a facility's process or heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) requirements, including facility cooling (known as tri-generation) when implementing an absorption or adsorption chiller.

ENERGY-SAVING SYSTEMS TO FIT YOUR SPECIFIC NEEDS

Caterpillar provides customized cogeneration package proposals, including the required mechanical equipment and controls to capture and transfer the engine thermal energy to an industrial facility. In addition, Caterpillar offers exhaust emissions aftertreatment for highly regulated emission environments and utility grade Cat paralleling switchgear to sell excess electricity generated to the local electric grid.

The total energy cost savings of such systems can more than offset total owning and operating costs, delivering a payback in as little as two to three years, depending on local energy pricing and policies.