Combined Heat/Power Plants
The sharp increase in gas and electricity prices is fuelling demand for combined heat/power plants (CHP) in the business market.
CHP in the business market
CHP for consumers
Combined heat/power plants use natural gas and simultaneously generate heating and electricity. This makes them much more energy-efficient than power stations that only generate electricity and allow the heating to escape.
CHP in the business market
The Energy Solutions (EnSo) Department takes care of the management and operation of energy installations of business customers. After several years of restructuring, Nuon’s CHP capacity grew slightly again in 2006.
Nuon is focusing its expansion efforts on the glasshouse industry and housing associations. In 2006 a development towards horticultural clustering and large gas engines became visible in the glasshouse market. Larger engines give an improved technical performance and are better-equipped to serve the ever-larger horticultural businesses.
Stimulated by high energy prices, the CHP capacity in the Netherlands increased in 2006 by more than 300 MW. Nuon’s strategy to promote renewable energy is currently aimed at large-scale generation. Nuon’s contribution towards the growth in the Netherlands’ national CHP capacity is therefore limited. Despite these modest ambitions for the realisation of new capacity, Nuon is still the Netherlands’ largest service provider in the field of CHP.
That leadership is attributable to our investments in knowledge, research and new services. In 2006 a trading platform was set up for customers with a CHP installation. This platform enables them to trade directly in electricity. In addition, efforts were made to improve the price transparency of CHP-generated electricity. This information gives customers better insight into the price differences between self-produced and grid-based electricity. These instruments help customers to improve the economic performance of their CHP plant and lower the threshold for outsourcing to Nuon.
CHP for consumers
Nuon and GasTerra are jointly carrying out field tests with the micro CHP. The micro CHP is a small household unit that generates electricity and then uses the resulting heat to supply the household with central heating and warm water. The latest micro CHP models are so advanced that they are now the same size as the currently standard suspended high performance boiler. This is vital. Because now that size is no longer an issue, micro CHPs can compete in the boiler replacement market.
In 2006 the field tests were continued. In addition, a lot of time and energy was put into setting up a more extensive field test. This, however, has been delayed due to delivery problems with certain key components. In 2007 GasTerra, Nuon, Eneco and Essent will sign a covenant to place 10,000 micro CHPs in the period 2007-2009.
