Combined heat and power's potential to meet New York City's sustainability goals

Abstract

2 AbstractCombined Heat and Power (CHP) has been proven as a mature technology that can benefit both building owners and utility operators. As the economic and environmental benefits of CHP in urban centers gain recognition, regulations and policies have evolved to encourage their deployment. However, the question remains whether these policies are sufficient in helping to achieve the larger sustainability goals, such as the New York City-specific goal of incorporating 800 MW of distributed generation. In this paper, the current regulatory and policy environment for CHP is discussed. Then, an engineering analysis estimating the potential for CHP in NYC at the individual building and microgrid scale, considered a city block, is performed. This analysis indicates that over 800 MW of individual building CHP systems would qualify for the current incentives but many systems would need to undergo more cumbersome air permitting processes reducing the viable capacity to 360 MW. In addition microgrid CHP systems with multiple owners could contribute to meeting the goal even after considering air permits; however, these systems may incorporate many residential customers. The regulatory framework for microgrids with multiple owners and especially residential customers is particularly uncertain therefore additional policies would be needed to facilitate their development.

Greenhouse gases emission assessment in residential sector through buildings simulations and operation optimization

“…It is a mature technology that can be beneficial for both consumers and plant operators [56]. Highefficiency cogeneration is recognized in the EU as one of the key technologies for achieving energy supply security and flexibility, as well as a substantial increase in energy efficiency and the reduction of GHGE [4].…”

Incentives for Combined Heat and Power plants: How to increase societal benefits?

“…This is because such charges are often ratcheted and can result in a higher payment for a longer duration even when utility services are used only for a limited time period. Mueller (2006) and Howard et al (2014) note that such rate structure for backup supply may be prohibitive for CHP development.…”

“…The study acknowledges that in addition to lowering regulatory complexity, other measures (such as information programs with stronger emphasis on CHP profitability) are required to solve the CHP paradox. Howard et al (2014) propose that improved clarity in the microgrid regulatory framework could help harness CHP potential, especially by residential consumers in urban areas such as the New York City. The authors recognized other regulatory barriers (such as air permitting processes, interconnection procedures, and local codes and permits) as well as financial barriers (such as standby electric rates).…”

Examination of the optimal operation of building scale combined heat and power systems under disparate climate and GHG emissions rates

“…However studies considering the largest diversity of building types typically considered the effects in a single climate under fixed GHG emissions rates from grid electricity and thermal demands [17,25]. Conversely Mago et al [15] evaluated the performance of CHP systems in various climates but only considered a single use case.…”

“…This has led to a large body of research analyzing the how to best operate CHP system under various sets of conditions [12,13,14,15,16,5,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28]. "Best" has been defined in many ways including minimal cost, energy consumption, GHG emissions and exergy efficiency.…”