Cogeneration of heat and power

Cogeneration is the simultaneous production of electricity and useful heat. In a regular power plant, the heat remaining in the generation of electricity is released to the environment, mostly through cooling towers or cooling water, whereas in a cogeneration plant, the heat is recovered for use in homes, businesses, and industry. Significantly, cogeneration plants can achieve energy efficiency levels of around 90%, and small cogeneration facilities can also be an effective way to supply energy to remote areas without the need for expensive grid infrastructure.

A trigeneration plant, or combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP), produces cooling (air conditioning) as well as heat and electricity.

Promoting cogeneration in Europe

Cogeneration can significantly help improve energy efficiency as efficiency gains can be achieved in a technologically neutral way, particularly by making use of waste heat and cold from waste incineration, power generation and industry, as well as district heat and cold transmission installations with low losses. 

In line with the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Commission may require EU countries to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the potential for efficient heating and cooling, including the assessment of the potential for cogeneration.

Cost-benefit analyses of the cogeneration

The Energy Efficiency Directive requires EU countries must to ensure that a cost-benefit analysis is conducted of the potential of using cogeneration when they plan to build or substantially refurbish

• a heat or electrical installation with a total thermal input exceeding 20MW
• an industrial installation generating waste heat with a total thermal input exceeding 20MW
• a district heating and cooling network exceeding a total thermal input of 20MW. In this case, the intention is to see if it is cost-effective to utilise waste heat from nearby industry

Exemptions

In certain cases, the facilities exceeding 20MW thermal input described above may be exempt from a cogeneration cost-benefit analysis. Specifically

• facilities that are expected to operate for less than 1500 hours per year over a five year period. For instance, back-up electricity installations and peak load power plants that are only turned on during very high levels of demand
• nuclear power installations
• installations located close to a geological site for carbon capture and storage

EU governments are required to notify the European Commission of these exemptions. Their notifications are available in the table below.

Open or close table

Guarantees of origin

With the Energy Efficiency Directive, EU countries are required to ensure that the origin of electricity produced from high-efficiency cogeneration can be proved with guarantees of origin.

National cogeneration reports

Under the repealed Cogeneration Directive (2004/8/EC), EU countries were required to publish national reports on cogeneration every 4 years.

• Interpretation of Cogeneration Directive [SWD(2012)13]
• First round of national reports: EU countries' reports in their original language | Translated in English
• Second round of national reports: English versions | Original versions

Documents

• Study on the review of the reference values for high-efficiency Cogeneration (2015)
• Commission delegated regulation reviewing harmonised efficiency reference values (EU) 2015/2402
• Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU)
• Detailed guidelines for the calculation of electricity from cogeneration (Decision 2008/952/EC)