WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reports that it
has eight Regional Application Centers (RAC) located throughout the United
States that provide information about utilizing combined heat and power (CHP)
technologies as a near-term solution to energy challenges.
For example, the Northwest RAC recently worked with Washington
State’s Climate Action Team to incorporate CHP technologies in three
subcommittee reports. This could impact legislation that will allow new
CHP facilities and projects to qualify for offset credits, and seek to avoid
inadvertently penalizing CHP systems. The Northwest RAC also recently published
a “Biomass Drying and Dewatering for Clean
Heat & Power” guide. Created specifically for the forest
products and food processing industries, the guide provides general information
about drying biomass fuels, one element of getting the most out of
biomass-fired CHP projects.
A few states away, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City,
the final chapter of a six-phase program with Chevron Energy Solutions of San
Francisco is underway. The crowning feature of the effort to upgrade
the energy efficiency profile of the campus is a 6-megawatt CHP system. The
Intermountain RAC played a central role in the project by providing an
independent review of the project developer’s study and proposal, as well as
CHP emissions information on green impacts of the project.
For more information on DOE’s CHP Regional Application Centers,
visit
www.eere.energy.gov/de/chp/chp_applications/chp_application_centers.html.
Publication date:01/05/2009
