ADD CHP: Accelerated development and deployment of combined cooling, heat, and power at federal facilities

Fuel-efficient distributed energy generation systems such as combined cooling, heat, and power (CHP or cogeneration) are attracting increasing attention among project developers and policy makers because they can make significant contributions to mitigating key power sector constraints. These systems can meet increased energy needs, reduce transmission congestion, cut emissions, increase power quality and reliability, and increase the overall energy security for a site. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (DOE-FEMP) recently completed a national market assessment to estimate the potential impacts of CHP in the federal sector (ORNL 2002). That study suggests that CHP could be successfully applied in 9 percent of large federal facilities, annually conserve 50 trillion Btus of primary energy, reduce CO2 emissions by 2.7 million metric tons, and cut utility bills by $170 million. Although many CHP technologies are proven and the potential savings and benefits are significant, project development lags behind potential in the federal sector. This article describes FEMP’s programs to “ADD CHP” (Accelerate Development and Deployment of Combined Cooling, Heat and Power) at federal facilities and other CHP outreach efforts including FEMP’s New Technology Demonstration Program (NTDP). ADD CHP works to identify and reduce barriers to installation of CHP technologies in federal buildings. The article discusses FEMP’s role, CHP market potential in the federal sector, issues affecting CHP deployment, the strategy to expedite CHP projects, and progress to date.