Page 159 - Sustainable On-Site CHP Systems Design, Construction, and Operations

132 T h e Fe a s i b i l i t y S t u d y

1 Do you pay more than $ 0.06/kWh on average for electricity (including generation,
transmission, and distribution)?
2 Are you concerned about the impact of current or future energy costs on your
business?
3 Is your facility located in a deregulated electricity market?
4 Are you concerned about power reliability? Is there a substantial financial impact
to your business if the power goes out for 1 hour? For 5 minutes?
5 Does your facility operate for more than 5000 hours/year?
6 Do you have thermal loads throughout the year (including steam, hot water, chilled
water, hot air, etc.)?
7 Does your facility have an existing central plant?
8 Do you expect to replace, upgrade or retrofit central plant equipment within the
next 3–5 years?
9 Do you anticipate a facility expansion or new construction project within the next
3–5 years?
10 Have you already implemented energy efficiency measures and still have high
energy costs?
11 Are you interested in reducing your facility’s impact on the environment?
12 Do you have access to on-site or nearby biomass resources (i.e., landfill gas, farm
manure, or food processing waste)?

Source: Survey developed by the U.S. EPA—Combined Heat and Power Partnership.
TABLE 8-3 Is My Facility a Good Candidate for CHP?

Initial Data Gathering
The initiation of Level 1 study starts with data gathering. For this purpose, the U.S.
EPA—Combined Heat and Power Partnership developed a simple checklist (Level 1
Feasibility Analysis Data Tool) whose main elements are
1. Contact information
2. Site information and data
3. As-built drawings [building(s), plant, utility infrastructure]
4. Electric use data
5. Fuel use data
6. Thermal loads (heating, cooling, domestic hot water, etc.)
7. Existing equipment data
8. Other data
These data can be obtained by combination of effective communication with the site
personnel and a site visit, which is recommended.