Why Canada needs more CHP resources
With various electricity companies vying for your business, CHP’s self-generated power is a clear-cut competitive advantage over traditional energy options that are expensive, require numerous highly specialized personnel and reduce grid disruptions and power being lost on transmission. With self-generation, communities and facilities do not need to build grid infrastructure like new power plants. Its environmental impact is minimized as well as it reduces the release of harmful greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide.
A wide variety of sectors are no stranger to CHP infrastructure and capacity. To name a few, the industrial, manufacturing, real estate, and entertainment arena industries rely on energy to power their businesses. CHP also captures heat and steam that are used to heat water and heating for these industries during the cold and winter months.
For the industrial sector, CHP powers manufacturing plants, chemical production and refineries that produce “high temperature waste streams” that can be recovered to be used in heat boilers or steam turbine systems. Traditional power stations waste steam by releasing it from its chimneys. This solves the problem of waste heat and puts it to good use, which can improve energy efficiency by as much as 40%-50%.
For commercial and residential real estate, many condo buildings, apartment complexes, shopping malls and office towers are starting to install and utilize CHP systems to help cut their more extensive usage and expensive electricity or hydro rates.
There’s been new interest in these energy technologies and solutions as many companies want to break free from price increases, lack of control over its own power production and paying for energy that isn’t even used like power lost through transmission
Many of our power grids are old and aging infrastructures that would need to be replaced to keep up with 21st century demands and safety processes. For Canadian businesses looking to self-generate, this not only increases their production but their competitiveness in the marketplace.
If governments want a decrease in carbon footprint, there needs to be a CHP capacity and audit that must happen. Doubling Canada’s CHP capacity can bring in billions of dollars of savings every year for current energy users and the elimination of millions of metric ton carbon dioxide emissions. Canadian manufacturers can benefit from reduced cost and savings that can be put into new capital investments every year.
For more information on CHP systems and how Onsite Power Partners can help you and your facilities, please do not hesitate to email us at info@onsitepowerpartners.com or use our contact form.