Page 396 - Sustainable On-Site CHP Systems Design, Construction, and Operations

Governmental Facility—Mission Critical 369

Two Case Studies
The extension of cogeneration into backup power systems requires an investigation
into the complex interplay of policy, economic and technical issues of so-called trigen-
eration, and microgrid development.
There is an absence of actual case histories that are publicly available on the specific
application of CHP to emergency management facilities; however, this chapter explores
the central conceptual promise of CHP for emergency management facilities using two
studies as benchmarks:

• An economic case study sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, based upon actual field records from a joint Pacific Gas and Electric
(PG&E) and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) research project. The
results demonstrate a 16.9 percent improvement in simple payback in a
1500-kW CHP system with backup power capability versus the simple payback
of the same CHP system without backup power capability.
• A generic reliability study from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers (IEEE) based upon actual failure rate data from U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers Power Reliability Enhancement Program. The results reveal that a
1000-kW radial system with CHP cuts the average forced hours of downtime
per year in half as the same system without CHP.
Many believe that the electricity markets need to be redesigned before wide-scale
distributed resource technologies such as CHP become dramatically more common.
Others believe that power security should come first. Still others believe that market
redesign and security are inextricably linked. If the target environment for homeland
security requires the installation of backup generation anyway, a conversation about
the practical use of a tried-and-true technology like CHP is responsible stewardship.

The Homeland Security Objective
Central to public policy will be consideration of the social impact of town-center, eco-
nomic development, and emergency management districts since their formulation
shapes energy infrastructure development. In many American cities, energy infrastruc-
ture follows the geometry of the city. When the objectives of homeland and energy
security are handled together, urban planners have to think a little harder about whether
population aggregations ought to be guided around the availability of electric power
for the next 100 years. Conceptually, this is no different from the way cities oriented
themselves around transportation routes in the past.
The scope of Article 708 is as follows: 4

Critical operations power systems are those systems so classed by municipal, state, federal,
or other codes by any governmental agency having jurisdiction or by facility engineering
documentation establishing the necessity for such a system. These systems include but are
not limited to power systems, HVAC, fire alarm, security, communications, and signaling
for designated critical operations areas.
FPN No. 1: Critical operations power systems are generally installed in vital infrastructure
facilities that, if destroyed or incapacitated, would disrupt national security, the economy,
public health or safety; and where enhanced electrical infrastructure for continuity of oper-
ation has been deemed necessary by governmental authority.