June 2019

from a single fuel source. This is a valuable technology because producing heat and power at the same time is significantly more efficient than generating them separately. Conventional power stations produce their electricity by driving turbines with steam that is usually just released from a plant‘s chimney. This waste is a natural consequence of the fact that electricity is so much easier to transport than heat. The heat lost in the form of steam clouds is more than balanced out by the economies of scale enjoyed by large power plants, making the excess energy expendable. When it comes to manufacturing plants, however, many have a large enough demand for both heat and power, so installing a system capable of producing both on-site can generate significant savings, compared to simply buying power in and relying on a conventional boiler system. Studies show that by taking advantage of the heat wasted in conventional power generation, CHP plants can reach efficiencies of more than 80%, while coal and gas fired plants struggle to achieve more than 40%.1 For users that see substantial portions of their budgets eaten up by energy bills, this increase in efficiency can generate significant savings. In a recent report, T he manufacturing sector is the UK’s biggest energy user, accounting for 16.5% of national demand. Every year plants and factories all over the country use the equivalent of 27.7m tonnes of oil, producing a varied range of goods. As vital as the sector is, there will always be calls to reduce energy use for both environmental and financial reasons. Although there are substantial initiatives in place across the industry to help boost efficiency, it is also possible to reduce the financial and environmental costs of producing the energy in the first place. This can be difficult for companies that rely almost entirely on electrical power, but many products also require huge amounts of heat at various points in the manufacturing process. Indeed, according to a report commissioned by the UK government the industrial and manufacturing sector uses roughly the same amount of natural gas as it does electricity – most of which is used to produce process heat and steam. Combining processes, reducing costs As the name suggests, CHP - sometimes known as cogeneration – is a technology based around generating both electricity and heat 36 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk June 2019 Energy, the Environment & Water Focus on: Boilers, Burners & Controls Manufacturing is an energy-hungry industry, requiring huge quantities of both heat and electricity. This high demand for energy means that the manufacturing sector is ideally suited to take advantage of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems. However, making the investment requires some careful consideration, says Nigel Thompson, sales manager – Gas Power Solutions at Finning UK & Ireland (Finning). Manufacturing savings with CHP 1 Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Combined Heat and Power, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/combined-heat-and-power 2 The Association of Decentralised Energy, Backing Industrial Productivity: The Combined Heat and Power Opportunity, http://www.theade.co.uk/medialibrary/2015/12/07/166db3ef/Backing%20industrial %20productivity%20- %20the%20opportunity%20for%20combined%20heat%20and%20power_web.pdf 3 Department of Energy and Climate Change, CHP Finance, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/3451 90/Part_5_CHP__Finance.pdf