WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 17, 2019)—The leading national voice for the deployment of combined heat and power (CHP) and waste heat to power (WHP) today announced that it is launching under a new name: the Combined Heat and Power Alliance, a coalition of business, labor, contractor, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions who share the vision that CHP can make America’s manufacturers and other businesses more competitive, reduce energy costs, enhance grid reliability and reduce emissions.
Changing our name to be focused on CHP as a whole, and not just for industrial energy efficiency, better represents our values and the changing marketplace. “Since 2010, we have operated as the Alliance for Industrial Efficiency, but we are changing our name to more explicitly represent the CHP industry at the national level, and to reflect important changes in the market and the future of this cost-saving, efficient technology,” said David Gardiner, Executive Director of the Combined Heat and Power Alliance.
Historically, CHP systems were primarily deployed in the industrial sector to save money and cut emissions for large energy users. However, there is a growing market for CHP in other sectors. “While industrial uses currently represent about 86% of current CHP capacity, over 70% of new potential lies in the commercial sector as small, packaged systems have entered the marketplace. We look forward to further collaboration with the Combined Heat and Power Alliance to realize the potential of CHP, both nationally and at the state and regional level.” said Cliff Haefke, Director of the Energy Resources Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago and President of the Midwest Cogeneration Association.
Resilience and reliability are key considerations for increasing CHP’s potential nationwide, particularly as a power source for critical infrastructure. “An increased focus on resilience has led to major opportunities for the deployment of systems in hospitals, colleges and universities, multi-family housing, wastewater treatment facilities and other critical infrastructure,” said Meegan Kelly, Manager at ICF. “The ability of CHP to island from the electrical grid during natural disasters and outages ensures these key services can maintain continuous operations and can also play a role in providing reliable power for microgrids with solar, storage, and other technologies.”
This is a pivotal moment to make sure CHP is realized in the future energy generation portfolio of America. “As we consider the role of CHP in a carbon-constrained world and the shifting marketplace, now is an especially important time for the industry to join together.” said Thomas Smith, President and CEO of Sterling and Wilson Power Solutions and new President of the CHP Alliance.
Educating the public and decision-makers about CHP will continue to be a focal point for the organization. “The Alliance is the premier advocate for CHP and has helped to ensure that its efficiency, economic, sustainability and resiliency benefits are recognized by key decision makers,” said Richard Murphy, Managing Director of Energy Markets at the American Gas Association. “We see CHP is a key piece of the puzzle for a low-carbon future—we’re excited about the direction of this diverse Alliance and proud to be involved as a founding member.”
All stakeholders in the CHP industry are encouraged to consider joining the Combined Heat and Power Alliance, as we prepare to formalize the organization’s structure for 2020.
To view a list of our founding members and learn more about the benefits of membership, visit: https://chpalliance.org/membership/
Additional Quotes from Founding Members:
“CHP is a reliable technology that in Europe has been used since decades for energy efficiency, resiliency, to manage peaks, to stabilize the grid. CHP can now contribute to the sustainable growth of the energy market in the U.S. The Alliance will advocate for it.” said Enzo Losito Bellavigna, CEO at AB Energy USA.
“At Caterpillar, we are committed to making our customers more successful,” states Claudio Martino, North American sales manager in Caterpillar’s Electric Power division. “Cogeneration is an important initiative in the power generation industry allowing our customers to utilize resources wisely while saving them money. The opportunity for us to be a founding member of the Combined Heat and Power Alliance will give us even more leverage in Combined Heat and Power technology and best practices we can pass on to our customers.”
“As businesses, states, and municipalities around the country look to be more energy efficient and reduce emissions we hope the market for combined heat and power and waste heat to power will grow to meet that demand. We’re proud to be part of the Alliance and eager to assure that policy frameworks allow this important part of the clean energy economy to grow,” said Charles Hernick, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions.
“Even though it represents one of the largest untapped efficiency resources in the US, most energy planners today do not recognize that well-applied CHP operates at 75-80% HHV efficiency while the best NGCC plants average only about 50% HHV efficiency. This superior efficiency means CHP uses much less fuel and produces far fewer emissions per MWh than any other base load resource. This unsurpassed efficiency, combined with reduction in grid losses by serving load at point of supply, and high capacity factor all combine to make well-applied CHP a least cost resource which energy planners should evaluate along with all other resources in every Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). Utilities and their key customers with continuous thermal loads should collaborate to capture and share the benefits of CHP. The new CHP Association will help make the case that CHP can be an essential bridge to a more sustainable and resilient grid,” said Ken Duvall, CEO and Managing Partner of Sterling Energy Group, LLC.