A practice where a manufacturer will produce steam on their premises to heat adjoining buildings, run machinery and run turbines to generate their own electric power
- the simultaneous production of power and useful thermal energy from the same energy source Natural gas is burned in the turbine (essentially similar to a jet engine) which generates electricity The hot exhaust gas is used to generate steam for process use (or used directly for heating) In a chemical plant, for example, the steam is used as heat inputs to the processes and can be used as a source of power for large rotating machinery Steam is used in chemical reactions, separations, and purifications Other types of Co-generation systems are possible but all of them produce both power and useful thermal energy sequentially A Co-generation system can be a QF (defined below) (For additional information, see definition in the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act )
A source that generates electricity and also provides steam or other energy for industrial or commercial uses
The use of waste heat from electric generation, such as exhaust from gas turbines, for either industrial purposes or district heating
(1) Any of several processes that either use waste heat produced by electricity generation to satisfy thermal needs, or process waste heat to electricity, or produce mechanical energy (2) The use of single prime fuel source in a reciprocating engine or gas turbine to generate both electrical and thermal energy to optimize fuel efficiency The dominant demand for energy may be either electrical or thermal Usually it is thermal with excess electrical energy, if any, being transmitted into the local power supply lines