Fuel Cells for Combined Heat and Power
Combined Heat and Power
What is it?
Driving in the cold, you switch on the car's heater - That's combined heat and power. The cars engine is not only developing the power to move you along but also the heat to keep you warm.
Combined Heat and power is all about maximising the energy that is produced when using a power source eitehr to generate heat or power, perhaps in the form of electricity. Neighbourhood heating systems take the waste heat from smaller local power stations and feed it to the local community.
Small scale CHP was planned in the form of MicroGen which was intended as a domestic boiler based on a sterling engine. Rather than using what would otherwise be the waste heat, the MicroGen produces electricity as a byproduct!
The best of both worlds!
A fuel cell is most suitable for your needs if you require either a high capacity electrical installation or a CHP installation.
In their basic form the fuel cell installations we provide offer a 50% efficiency electrical generation, this can be augmented with a high efficiency steam turbine to provide a total 70% efficient electricity generation from a variety of fuel sources.
This represents the high capacity electrical installation, an order of magnitude more efficient than electricity supplied from the national grid.
If you need high temperature fluids for industrial processes 40% of the energy put into a fuel cell is contained in 400 degree centigrade steam, which can be used either for the steam turbines mentioned above, for space heating or in industrial processes which require heat.
Also See: Combined Heat and Power Association which works to promote the use of cogeneration and community heating.
