Cogeneration examples in district heating Excess heat from local power stations provides the surrounding community with heat via an extensive network of steam pipes. In colder climates, hot water has even been piped under roads to keep them snow-free in winter.

Combustion turbine or reciprocating engine CHP systems burn fuel (natural gas, oil, or biogas) to turn generators to produce electricity and use heat recovery devices to capture the heat from the turbine or engine. This heat is converted into useful thermal energy, usually in the form of steam or hot water.

A cogeneration plant is like CHP in the sense that it also generates electricity and produces heat. Cogen technology differs, however, from CHP in that it produces electricity from a simple cycle gas turbine. The gas turbine exhaust energy is then used to produce steam.

1) What is the difference between co-generation and combined-cycle power generation? Co-generations uses waste heat for many different processes, such as space heating or drying. Combined-cycle power generation is a two-cycle electricity generation process that uses the heat from the first cycle to run a second cycle.