CHP Regional Application Centers: Paving the Way for Combined Heat and Power
From the Winter 2009 issue of Energy Matters
The U.S. Department of Energy's eight CHP Regional Application Centers are key channels for expanding the U.S. market for combined heat and power (CHP). By promoting CHP technologies and practices, serving as clearinghouses for local and regional CHP resources, and working with state policymakers to address barriers, the centers help pave the way to widespread deployment.
The eight Regional Application Centers support local CHP development.
Combined heat and power (CHP) has been identified as one of the top solutions for improving industrial energy efficiency and impacting climate change. However, use of CHP is not optimized because of the need for application and project development assistance, lack of end-user and policymaker knowledge, and utility regulation barriers.
To address these issues and promote use of innovative CHP technologies, DOE established CHP Regional Application Centers (RACs) throughout the United States. The core mission of the RACs is to:
- Inform prospective CHP users on the benefits, business model, and resources available for their specific application. These efforts help facilitate CHP project viability through target market workshops, conferences, and Web sites.
- Support CHP project development with technical and financial analysis and assistance on project feasibility studies, permitting issues, and assessment of applicable tariffs/rates.
- Promote CHP as an effective clean energy policy solution to state policy-makers and regulators, and to work with this audience to eliminate barriers that prevent the widespread adoption of CHP.
Local and Regional Resource for Industry
Ethan Allen Success Story
The Ethan Allen Furniture Factory in Beecher Falls, Vermont, was struggling to stay in operation because of its high energy costs. This world-famous plant began in 1896 as the original Ethan Allen factory and employs 500 local workers. The Northeast CHP Regional Application Center stepped in to help to explore the possibility of incorporating combined heat and power for energy savings. The RAC staff recommended replacing the factory's steam engine with a steam turbine, using a biomass-fired boiler, which could save the factory 10% of its yearly energy costs with a 3-year payback. The factory owners implemented the recommendation. With the support and joint funding from the states of Vermont and New Hampshire and the Vermont Electric Cooperative utility, the Ethan Allen Furniture Factory is keeping manufacturing operations in New England. Details.
The eight CHP Regional Application Centers serve the Gulf Coast, Intermountain, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Northwest, Pacific, and Southeast regions. The local and regional nature of the RACs allows them to address the wide range of market and regulatory requirements for CHP systems that vary by state and utility region. The RACs are able to respond to their customers' individual needs with specific knowledge on the most relevant issues for local CHP project development.
The RACs are led through a collaborative partnership of ten universities, two research organizations, and one non-profit organization. To optimize efforts of all of the centers, meetings and conference calls are held to ensure that efforts are not duplicated, and that ideas are leveraged across the country.
This strategic approach has resulted in proven successes. The RACs have coordinated more than 120 end-user focused workshops, informing more than 9,000 attendees about the benefits of CHP for their applications. In addition, education of state regulators and policymakers on CHP and clean energy benefits has resulted in new incentive programs, inclusion of CHP in energy efficiency and renewable portfolio standards, improved interconnection standards, and more favorable standby policies in many states.
The CHP Regional Application Centers have supported more than 350 projects representing more than 1.3 GWs of CHP installed or in development. Implementation of these projects has offset more than 7.7 million tons of CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to planting 1.9 million acres of trees and removing 1.2 million cars from the road. As a result of energy cost savings identified in one assessment, a 100-year old company that was considering closing down their factory and moving to another location was able to remain in operation in their home state (see sidebar).
CHP Regional Application Centers and Contact Information
| Region | Information and Key Contacts |
|---|---|
| Gulf Coast | Daniel Bullock Houston Advanced Research Center 281-364-6087 dbullock@harc.edu |
| Intermountain | Patti Case etc Group 801-278-1927 plcase@etcgrp.com |
| Mid-Atlantic | Joe Orlando University of Maryland 301-405-4681 orlandoj@umd.edu |
| Midwest | John Cuttica UIC Energy Resources Center 312-996-4382 cuttica@uic.edu |
| Northeast | Beka Kosanovic UMass Amherst 413-545-0684 kosanovi@ecs.umass.edu Tom Bourgeois Pace Energy and Climate Center 914-422-4013 tbourgeois@law.pace.edu |
| Northwest | David Sjoding Washington State University 360-956-2004 sjodingd@energy.wsu.edu |
| Pacific | Tim Lipman University of California, Berkeley 510-642-4501 telipman@berkeley.edu |
| Southeast | Louay Chamra Mississippi State University 662-325-0618 chamra@me.msstate.edu Keith McCallister North Carolina State University 919-515-3933 keith_mcallister@ncsu.edu |
To learn more about the Regional Application Centers, please contact:
Ted Bronson
RAC Coordinator
Power Equipment Associates
Phone: 630-248-8778
E-mail: tlbronsonpea@aol.com
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