What is the background of Cogeneration?
Cogeneration has been widely accepted and used for almost 100 years. Large industrial customers produced power and heat on a decentralized basis in the early 1900s because electrical distribution systems were not readily available and electricity from utilities was very expensive. As utilities expanded their distribution systems, fewer industrial customers used cogeneration. However, because of low natural gas prices in the 1980s, CHP became a very attractive alternative to nuclear and conventional power plant construction and grew at a rapid rate. Today, we have 6-7 times more electricity generated by CHP than in 1980.
