Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants provide the most efficient way of converting a fossil or renewable fuel into useful heat and power. But how does it work?
If you do not have CHP then typically you will import electricity and use boilers to provide hot water or steam. The majority of imported electricity is produced using conventional electricity generation where up to two thirds of the total fuel input is lost as waste heat. In addition boilers can waste up to 20% of the fuel input in the production of steam or hot water for process or space heating.
CHP technology utilises the waste heat from electricity generation to provide useful heat for process or space heating. CHP can therefore deliver savings in fuel consumption, fuel costs, carbon emissions and avoids transmission losses otherwise incurred by importing electricity. The diagram below shows the fuel and carbon savings that can be achieved through CHP.
CHP is highly energy efficient
What is CHP?
