Abstract: . . .  cogeneration is considered of paramount importance. When approaching the matter from a business perspective, some skepticism is usually applied to such ’grand schemes’. Considering the reducing demand for heat, due to increasing energy performance in build- ings, the reduction in population, the expected dismantling of existing heat production systems based on natural gas and the considerable costs for new district heating networks, 5 A TWh is a billion kWh April 2006 – Page 6 of 7 Page 7 www.sealnet.org What’s the important of cogeneration? the prospects for developing large municipal cogeneration facilities are slim. In this seg- ment, we can expect consolidation within existing networks. This may not suffice though to compensate for the reducing heat demand. Production of electricity from these facilities might very well increase, through the mod- ernisation of old cogeneration facilities, especially when also switching fuel from coal to natural gas, leading to a sizeable increase of the CHP coefficient, . . .
. . .  smaller facilities, and especially the block heat and power plants operate on gas. This assessment applies as well for fuel cells, especially since the economic production of hy- drogen lies in the distant future. In the long run, small cogeneration units may succumb to the increasing competition from separate heat production systems using electricity (increasingly from renewable sources), such as far example in heat pump systems. Contacts For information or comments, contact the author, or one of the contacts below: • Int’l: Hans De Keulenaer • Belgium: Benoit Dome • Italy: Angelo Baggini • Poland: Roman Targosz • UK: David Chapman Email contacts: .@sealnet.org. April 2006 – Page 7 of 7  . . .
. . .  cogeneration facilities. While Denmark is often cited as example, it should be noted that development of space heating using natural gas has been inhibited by regulation over a long period of time, while fuel oil prices have been kept artificially high by taxation. Prospects for cogeneration Many communications consider the development of cogeneration, next to more use of re- newable energy as one of the most important instrument for CO 2 reduction. Decentralised cogeneration is considered of paramount importance. When approaching the matter from a business perspective, some skepticism is usually applied to such ’grand schemes’. Considering the reducing demand for heat, due to increasing energy performance in build- ings, the reduction in population, the expected dismantling of existing heat production systems based on natural gas and the considerable costs for new district heating networks, 5 A TWh is a billion kWh April 2006 – Page 6 of 7 Page 7 www.sealnet.org What’s the important of cogeneration? . . .
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