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Advantages & Disadvantages of CHP

CHP (Combined Heat and Power) technology should be considered, alongside the traditional renewable energy sources of wind and solar, as this has the potential to contribute significantly to a homes energy demands. This may be used for large scale commercial heating, to providing small micro CHP units in residential estates. This article, will identify and outline the advantages and disadvantages of these different systems.

Advantages

  • Secure & reliable energy supply – if a power cut occurs in your local area you will be unaffected as the onsite CHP system will continue to generate electricity within your home, leaving you to continue cooking, cleaning or watching your favourite TV programme. This reduces dependance on the national grid, increasing resilience to dwindling fossil fuels. The CHP system, works similarly to PV solar panels, and during times of peak use, the CHP system may import additional electricity from the national grid, to make up for any shortfall.

  • Reduced energy costs – compared to electricity sources from the grid and heat generated from an onsite conventional condensing gas boiler, CHP can provide between 15 and 40% of energy cost savings. CHP achieves such savings by using much less fuel to provide the same level of heat and power as traditional energy generation.

  • Highly efficient – CHP systems provide heat and power much more efficiently than traditional energy systems, with total system efficiencies between 75 and 80%; furthermore CHP systems use less fuel to achieve this. There is a nice CHP demonstration over at DECC check it out for a better understanding of one of the advantages.

  • Helps save the environment – this may be an obvious advantage but as people start to use technologies such as CHP there will be less demand on the electricity grid and on natural energy sources, so power stations and households will omit less CO2.

  • Works on many applications – CHP can be provided in large scale installations with outputs greater than 1MW to small scale installations with outputs of 50kW.

  • Earns money – Electricity exported back to the grid can provide additional revenue from using feed-in-tariffs.

  • Variety – There are a range of different CHP systems currently on or near the market, including the use of pellet biomass CHP boilers, which are renewable, and do not rely on any fossil fuels.

Disadvantages

  • Payback times – payback time are still quite high, between 7-15 years depending on use and if the system can export electricity to the national grid.

  • Not completely renewable – A CHP system is still reliant on the use of natural gas. However there are boilers on the market, which utilise a renewable source such as biomass.

  • seasonal variations –May be ineffectual in responding to dynamic requirements of users particularly coping with seasonal variations; often producing excess heat during the summer period.

Summary

To conclude, the advantages and disadvantages provided by CHP over traditional systems are relatively attractive. However, their payback times are still relatively lengthy, paying for itself in approximately 7-15 years.

Currently CHP systems initial purchase cost is similar to that of conventional modern condensing boilers. Therefore, if you are looking at upgrading your system, this is definitely an option to explore. On the other hand, if your existing boiler is similarly modern and fairly efficient, it may make more economic sense to wait. It is likely, this technology will continue to develop, and become gradually more cost effective in years to come.

From a business point of view you only have to look at some of the large companies utilising CHP to see the advantages, an example would Sainsbury's who use CHP plants to power some of their stores.

CHP is increasingly seen as a preffered option, particularly as the cost of fossil fuels such as coal and gas increase, technologies such as CHP become even more attractive and viable to home owners and businesses than ever before.

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