CHP

CHP: MAXIMIZE POWER RELIABILITY, WHILE REDUCING EMISSIONS AND ELECTRICITY COSTS, FOR ANY TYPE OF INDUSTRY Industrial cogeneration is the ideal choice for the combined production of electrical and thermal energy in many sectors, in particular for “energy-intensive” companies that require a significant production of heat The design and realization of these plants makes evident the engineering on an continual basis, and use a considerable know-how of AB amount of electricity. Industrial cogeneration in determining levers the benefits of the simultaneous the optimum production of these two energy carriers, starting configurations from a single source – natural gas, and in an and dimension. integrated system: the cogeneration plant. Skills to The benefits CHP can provide to businesses which is add the are several: significant primary energy savings, professionalism up to 30% (and in some cases even more!), which in managing mean cheaper bills, predictable costs, security the installation of supply, a reduced carbon footprint and an phase, even additional income streams such a Capacity Market in the most payments, Gas Peaking Plants or through DSR. complex in Orzinuovi (BS) Italy, spread over

For the adventurous, there are further income conditions. about 34,000 mq of connected streams to be had from frequency response. If the right choice of the most suitable buildings, where the production facility,

If the plant qualifies for CHPQA, it’s possibile tecnology is very important, the choice of engineering offices, service centre to get a beneficial treatment under the CCL. the right partner is even more crucial. and management are located.

The natural gas cogeneration plants Since 1981, AB has been at the side To guarantee the plant best developed by AB are ideal for many industrial of companies seeking to improve their performance, AB offers the largest scenarios. In fact they meet the expectations own competitiveness, saving energy and network of specialized technicians and specific needs of various companies in the limiting environmental emissions. We around the world: AB Service is in fact manufacturing and commercial sectors, and build relationships with our customers completely dedicated to the assistance they can be defined as a “taylor-made CHP and partners based on openness and and maintenance of AB installations. plants”. The design and engineering of products mutual trust: we manufacture, install Over 90% of plants installed have a take into account specific customer needs, and manage systems as if they were our “Full Service” 24 hour assistance, 365 days organising the module parts to obtain an ideal own. Over 40 years of work, we have a year, which provides remote monitoring plant engineering configuration. The first step is a developed a know-how and a production of the plant and original replacement free feasibility study, going through the check of capacity without equal on a world-wide parts. The plant may be constantly kept available funding support mechanisms, analysis level, which ensure the excellence of under control with the activation of the of technical performance of existing equipments the plants, the maximum quality of both diagnostic and remote assistance service, and further additional income opportunities, the installation and after-sales service. by telephone or web, thanks to the in order to define a certain payback time. AB is the only manufacturer, with monitoring systems, that allows also to

The CHP solution developed by AB is called an industrial process able to internally choose the best operating set-up, verify

ECOMAX® and offers the following benefits: it’s manage the entire production cycle the operating conditions, determine compact, versatile and capable of delivering a of the cogeneration plant. AB pursues the daily profitability of the plant. Our high performance and the utmost reliability. the highest degree of innovation with local technicians, in close contact

It’s an industrial product ready to determination, gathering knowledge, with customer personnel, intervene plug, with a rapid installation and start- experience and technologies, in order in a timely and decisive manner. up, it requires no building permit and it’s to respond with advanced solutions The benefits to our customers also relocatable, flexible and scalable. to a primary need of mankind: are: machine stoppages reduced to The ECOMAX® solutions may even be energy. Contributing to the creation a minimum, a guaranteed payback configured for installations within buildings of a better future in the direction time and maximum reliability. through integrations with site installations or of an eco-sustainable system. A strategic choice which gives with the implementation of a completely new The principal production and certainty in payback on the investment. technological lay-out. AB has the skills and engineering research activities https://www.gruppoab.com/ solutions dedicated to tailor-made installations are concentrated in a modern inside buildings without the need of the module. industrial hub with its head offices

CHP

THE WEAKEST LINK

Being able to see what you temperature was considerably affected are looking at is becoming by only four of HIUs misbehaving. ever more relevant for heat Had these four units not been networks, not least with the causing issues, the volume weighted recent update to the Heat aggregate return temperature would

Networks Metering & Billing regulations have been 35.2°C, 8.4°C lower: which should encourage more retro fitting Due to Evinox’s ability to measure, of heat meters in existing networks. log and analyse the data captured in

Metering individual dwelling real time, these four units were fixed, consumptions is crucial for monitoring leading to a substantial improvement, as of overall energy usage and to demonstrated in Table 2. Being able to encourage residents to be mindful of see the performance of each and every their consumptions. What is often still unit in that exact moment, rather than missing though is the real time visibility a collation of consumption readings, and the logging of instantaneous loads. enabled the quick identification and

To improve heat network performance rectification of the problem. Without two of the most important things are to this real time information, Evinox would be able to see what the HIUs are doing have had to send engineers to site, right now, and what the instantaneous wasting valuable time and resource, to peak load looked like (to prevent future essentially find a needle in a haystack. In networks from being over-sized). this instance, engineers knew to fix specific

This was highlighted to us during a issues with specific units, which in this recent review of an old project, where case all were related to actuator heads a combined return temperature from having been removed from the PICV’s. the heat network at the bulk meter was This highlights the undeniable surprisingly high, especially as it’s known importance of connectivity to all that return temperatures from individual consumer points on the heat network.

HIUs are significantly lower. This can Higher mean operating temperatures indeed be a result of factors external will increase the heat loss from the pipe to the HIU’s, such as bypasses in the network, this in combination with low system, low loss headers or poor pump efficiency boilers can increase to the cost modulation, however having the capability of energy to the resident. An example of being able to gather a large number from another project, shows gas being of data points from all individual HIUs purchased for the main plantroom at

Evinox decided to investigate this further. 4p / kWh, and having to be sold to the The findings were rather astonishing. It resident at 10p/kWh due to inefficiencies. was apparent that the total volume returned The plant room lost 20% of the energy from the 797 HIUs was 18,811 litres it consumed, whilst the pipework losses per hour, and that the volume weighted contributed to a further 53% of heat losses, aggregate return temperature from all working out at a total energy loss of 62%. units was at 43.6°C. What was evident A well-functioning heat network is from the data, shown in Table 1, was that expected to have a boiler efficiency of 95% whilst almost all the units were performing and pipework heat losses up to a maximum perfectly and as expected, the total return of 15%, and under this ideal scenario

the selling price would have been half of that in the example above, i.e. 5p/kWh.

The updated Heat Network Metering & Billing guide will support the industry’s mission to reduce energy consumptions and carbon emissions, whilst also reducing residents’ costs. However, whilst collection of consumption is a great start, there is still a long way to go if meters are not remotely accessible and logging instantaneous data. The added benefit of having connected HIUs, is the ability to carry out continuous commissioning remotely, where hot water, heating and keep warm settings can be fine-tuned during the handover period and beyond, tying in conveniently with Soft Landings.

As manufacturers and suppliers of Heat Interface Units (HIU’s), Evinox Energy specialises in Communal and District Heating solutions, covering projects for both private and social housing schemes, and providing bespoke HIU’s, metering and billing and service and maintenance.

For further information, please contact Evinox Energy on 01372 722277, email them on sales@evinox.co.uk, or visit their website https://www.evinoxenergy.co.uk/

Choose the ‘Smart’ HIU!

Designed for modern, energy efficient heat networks, and independently tested with proof performance, the ModuSat® XR HIU delivers high performance at low primary flow temperatures, in-line with new GLA planning guidance.

Units come as standard with full remote connectivity, which allows for diagnostics, commissioning, aftercare support and meter data to be accessed over the internet.

Features

 Extra compact and ideal for tight installation constraints  Electronic Control  Optional Energy Display Device  Fast and responsive DHW performance

Designed for Efficiency

BESA tested (Model Tested: MTP4R-1R-TL1/1B) Programmable Keep-Warm function High performance at low primary flow temps as per GLA planning requirement Low DHW return temperature, as per CIBSE CP1

Selecting the best ModuSat® XR HIU for your next project couldn’t be easier, use our online sizing & network calculations tool today!

selector.evinoxenergy.co.uk

Metering & Billing

 Inbuilt MID approved heat meter  Integrated Pre-payment technology – Ready to go!  Open protocol data access

Remote Connectivity

 Remote configuration and commissioning  SmartTalk® Pro web portal for aftercare during defects liability period

Discover how Evinox Energy can deliver the best Heat Interface Unit solution for your next new build or refurbishment heat network project at www.evinoxenergy.co.uk, email info@evinox.co.uk or call 01372 722277.

CHP HOW CHP CAN HELP ENERGY MANAGERS BECOME BETTER GRID CITIZENS

Wayne Davies, Energy Markets Programme Manager, Enel X UK

The importance of flexibility in By retrofitting enabling the decarbonisation intelligent software of our energy system is well controls to automate understood. Grid operators value management of a sources of flexibility because they CHP plant, energy managers can both can call on it to help balance supply and improve the efficiency of their CHP units demand. Furthermore, flexible capacity is as well as trading surplus capacity. the key to deploying more renewable energy; Compared with deploying a static it gives grid operators more control over operating schedule, using software the energy system when the output from to control the CHP unit dynamically distributed renewable assets is determined minimises energy waste and maximises by the variability of the wind and sun. the value of flexible capacity (Figure 1). The role that CHP – or cogeneration plant – can play in delivering flexibility, and MONETISING FLEXIBLE the benefits available for that flexibility, is CAPACITY perhaps less familiar to energy managers. Today’s energy markets offer multiple DOES YOUR CHP HAVE SPARE CAPACITY? value opportunities to trade flexible capacity. These include trading in the capacity market, ancillary market, spot Research carried out by Enel X found energy markets and balancing mechanism. that four out of every five CHP assets in As grid operators continue to deploy the UK were commissioned three or more more renewable energy, they will also need years ago, and one in three were specified more flexible capacity in order to balance to meet the site’s past energy needs. supply and demand. According to Aurora

Energy managers who optimised their Energy Research, revenue for flexible CHP to meet the site’s past needs may now technologies is forecast to grow by 13% find themselves with power capacity to CAGR to create a £2.3 billion market by 2030. spare, especially where energy efficiency The GB electricity system has seen a measures have reduced demand. number of price spikes over recent months This spare capacity – or flexibility – in response to low levels of wind generation. can be traded in a number of ‘flexibility’ In September, for example, prices peaked at markets, which can be a source of over £500/MWh due to a combination of low revenue for the organisation. levels of wind generation and high demand.

A challenge for many energy managers, While these events are relatively uncommon, especially those operating small to medium- they do demonstrate the need for grid sized CHP assets, typically up to 10MW, is operators to maintain sufficient capacity to that they may not have a specialist resource achieve a safe operating margin. Such events responsible for optimising the CHP or the are an opportunity for organisations to in-house capabilities to trade this flexibility. realise the value of their flexibility capacity. By automating the CHP’s operating schedule, organisations can maximise the SMART RUNNING return on their investment by fully utilising SCHEDULES all of the capabilities of the assets. This Using smart automated controls can approach enables new streams of revenue maximise the flexible capacity of CHP from trading excess capacity; benefits assets while meeting site needs in the previously only available to larger teams. most economical way. Such an approach IMPLEMENTING DYNAMIC OPERATING SCHEDULES further optimises asset operation to maximise cost savings and creates additional revenues from energy markets.

CHP units that haven’t been optimised Deploying dynamic management can to serve variable site loads typically operate increase control and monitoring over the at sub-optimal performance and therefore whole CHP system. This enhanced level of deliver worse economic returns. Generating visibility provides clarity over site energy heat and electricity that will be surplus to costs; helps energy managers to understand requirements simply wastes energy, reduces and accommodate technical and contractual site efficiency and is bad for the environment. constraints; and minimises energy costs

Figure 1: Static and dynamic operating schedules The static schedule shows two CHPs – a 3.6MWe CHP unit in yellow and a 6MWe unit in orange, alongside the power price (blue line). The 3.6MWe CHP operates at 100% output 24x7, while the 6MWe unit operates at 100% during business hours. The dynamic operating schedule shows how the same units would respond to changes in power prices. The 3.6MWe CHP operates at 100% during business hours (8am – 8pm) but reduces output midday on 2/04 and 2/05 reacting to a dip in power price. The 6MWe CHP operates at 100% during business hours but shuts off completely midday 2/04 and 2/05 reacting to the dip in power price.

by reducing waste and inefficiencies.

Using software algorithms to combine knowledge of operating parameters with grid signals and market indicators, such as energy market price information, it’s possible to create the best running schedule for the CHP plant. This approach enables operators to identify when it’s best to plan maintenance to minimise revenue loss and provides insight into how to size new CHP plants to maximise profitable operation.

The algorithms can then identify opportunities to trade any flexible capacity in the most appropriate markets. CHP asset participation in the markets can also be automated. Dispatch communication can be sent to CHP assets by interfacing with SCADA or local control rooms, making it possible to realise revenue from the markets in real-time.

THE PATH TO GOOD GRID CITIZENSHIP

As Britain continues on its net-zero journey, the country will require more and more distributed assets to provide much-needed flexibility to enable the grid operator to balance supply and demand.

CHP operators now have an opportunity to become ‘good grid citizens’ by making flexible capacity available to the grid. By optimising the operation of their plant and participating in grid services, energy managers can reduce waste and inefficiencies as well as generate additional revenue through market trading. https://www.enelx.com/uk/en