Lumber yard

Project Start-Up

This section contains information and/or links to checklists, electronic spreadsheets and software available for facilitating data collection and analyses, and evaluating the economics of CHP systems. Also, please visit our FAQ page for additional general information.

Is my facility a good candidate for CHP?

If you answer "yes" to 3 or more of these of the following questions, your facility may be good candidate for CHP:

  • Do you pay more than $.08/ kWh on average for electricity (including generation, transmission and distribution)?
  • Are you concerned about the impact of current or future energy costs on your business?
  • Is your facility located in a deregulated electricity market?
  • Are you concerned about power reliability? Is there a substantial financial impact to your business if the power goes out for 1 hour? For 5 minutes?
  • Does your facility operate for more than 5000 hours/ year?
  • Do you have thermal loads throughout the year (including steam, hot water, chilled water, hot air, etc.)?
  • Does your facility have an existing central plant?
  • Do you expect to replace, upgrade or retrofit central plant equipment within the next 3-5 years?
  • Do you anticipate a facility expansion or new construction project within the next 3-5 years?
  • Have you already implemented energy efficiency measures and still have high energy costs?
  • Are you interested in reducing your facility's impact on the environment?

How much will CHP save me?

To estimate how much you can save, you should collect the information noted in the following checklist and then use one of the two models noted to estimate project cost and savings.

  • A Walkthrough Checklist for Gathering Information for Performing Preliminary Economic Assessment of a CHP System for a Facility Download - 66Kb (Microsft Excel format)
  • Spreadsheet for Evaluating Economics of CHP Systems Download - 401Kb (Microsoft Excel format)
  • BCHP Screening Tool (Free -demonstration version is available from Oak Ridge National Laboratory -- Contact Steve Fischer: fischersk@ornl.gov; (865) 574-2017)

Have you asked all the right questions?

Review this important factsheet (pdf) to avoid project difficulties later.

Project Development Guidelines

Valuable background information and recommendations for developing CHP projects is available from several sources including:

Distributed Energy Applications Guide -- which was developed by The Energy Solutions Center with the support from the US Department of Energy and the ESC's DG Consortium. This guide is intended primarily for industrial applications. www.poweronsite.org/AppGuide/DGuideFrameSet.htm

Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Resource Guide -- background information on CHP technologies, characteristics of good applications, and feasibility assessment procedures. This 43 page guide was developed by the Midwest CHP Application Center and Avalon Consulting with support from the US Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. www.chpcentermw.org/pdfs/chp_resource_guide_2003sep.pdf

Combined Heat and Power -- an assessment of legal, institutional, and regulatory issues and requirements. This 117 page report was prepared by John Nimmons & Associates and Kattner/FVB for the Washington State University Energy Program. www.energy.wsu.edu/BuildingEfficiency/EnergyCode.aspx

Financing Strategies for Brownfield Cleanup and Redevelopment -- an overview of Federal, State and Local programs that provides guidance on resources available to firms developing a CHP facility at a brownfield site. This report was prepared by the Northeast-Midwest Institute with the support of the US Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/economicdevelopment/programs/bedi/bfieldfinance.cfm

In addition, the Mid-Atlantic Clean Energy Application Center is developing a set of guidelines and examples specific to the requirements of the states in this region. Contact the Center directly for more information on these guidelines.