Energy Department awards $25 million to eight organization for combined heat, power technologies
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced Tuesday approximately $25 million for eight organizations to promote the installation of combined heat and power (CHP) technologies.
CHP, which currently accounts for approximately 8 percent of U.S. generating capacity with 82GW of installed capacity, is a group of commercially available, mostly gas-fired distributed generation technologies that generate electricity and thermal energy onsite.
“The use of CHP can support U.S. economic competitive advantage, promote economic development, instill resiliency in businesses and communities, create and maintain local energy-related jobs, and provide solutions for modernizing energy generation and delivery,” DOE said in a press release.
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE’s) Advanced Manufacturing Office leads the department’s CHP activities and focuses on early-stage research and development, public-private partnerships and field validation of CHP technologies.
The eight selected organizations will become regional CHP Technical Assistance Partnerships (CHP TAPs), which locally validate best practices in CHP policies and installation, aid in the creation of strategies to increase grid resilience and reliability, further CHP exposure to potential end-users and stakeholders and provide assistance in evaluating proposed CHP systems.
“There is considerable technical potential for CHP, and the continuation of the regional focus on CHP TAPs will provide greater access for local industrial, municipal, and commercial facilities interested in CHP technology options,” DOE said.
