Combined heat and power as a feature of energypark

The use of combined heat and power (CHP) in manufacturing plants that have relatively large thermal and power loads has long been recognized as an efficient alternative that also translates to less fuel consumption, i.e., less polluting of the environment. Making use of the full potentials of this mature concept still faces several technical and regulatory challenges. The concept of an ecopark is one that creates a cluster of industrial plants in close proximity, so that relevant inputs and outputs of the park can be optimized and shared by the park affiliates in order to maximize economic and environmental benefits. The design objectives of such an ecopark are large and include travel time, raw material bulk pricing, energy use, toxic substances, local resources, infrastructure, and regulations and operation guidelines, etc. Solving a problem with so many design objectives may be complex, requiring an extensive organizational network, intricate planning, and flexibility even once the design is completed. The ecopark, with its primary optimizing tool, a CHP system, is introduced in this paper to show how to achieve optimum energy use by a cluster of appropriately selected plants. The manufacturing park optimized for maximum energy efficiency, called an energypark, can then work hierarchically toward adopting more useful performance and waste-related parameters as secondary objectives for further optimization whenever possible.