2022 Combined Heat and Power & District Energy System Portfolio Meeting

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Driving efficiency and innovation in the U.S. industrial sector is crucial to restoring America's energy dominance. Combined heat and power (CHP) and district energy (DE) play important roles in this effort.

Compared with other power generation methods, CHP deployment leads to increased energy usability, efficiency, reliability, and resilience. Furthermore, CHP supports increased integration of variable renewable energy sources, and it serves as an anchor for microgrids by offering 24/7 resilience from multi-day grid outages. There are commercial and institutional opportunities for CHP, and it can provide low- or net-zero-carbon energy services to applications and processes that do not lend themselves easily to electrification. Moreover, the efficiency and emissions advantages of using CHP will remain as the natural gas and renewable energy infrastructure continue to develop within the market. In the research and development (R&D) space, there are opportunities to improve and integrate CHP systems (including flexible CHP) that can support the future grid while driving efficiencies.

DE systems serve a variety of end-use markets and are characterized by one or more central plants which provide hot water, space heating, and/or air conditioning for nearby buildings. By combining loads for multiple buildings, DE systems create economies of scale that help reduce energy costs and enable the use of high-efficiency technologies such as CHP. Several projects are developing innovative technologies and approaches to integrating CHP into DE systems.

The Advanced Manufacturing Office met with research partners in June 2022 in San Antonio, Texas. Photo credit: Southwest Research Institute

The Advanced Manufacturing Office met with research partners in June 2022 in San Antonio, Texas.

Photo credit: Southwest Research Institute

Portfolio Meeting Summary

Presentations