Designing of Micro-Cogeneration Systems in the Portuguese Scenario

摘要

High efficiency cogeneration is seen by the European Commission as part of the solution to increase energy efficiency and improve security of supply in the internal energy markets. The Portuguese residential sector has an estimated technical market potential of around 500 MW_e for cogeneration of less than 150 kW_e in size. In addition, Portugal has a specific law for power production in low voltage where at least 50% of the produced electric energy must be own consumed and the maximum power which can be delivered to the power utility is 150 kW_e. Therefore, generic simulation tools can not be applied in this regard. In this article, we develop the MicroG model for designing micro-CHP plants in agreement with the Portuguese energy policy. The model is able to design, evaluate and optimize from the techno-economic point of view any micro CHP plant. A practical case in a gym is considered to show all the potentialities of the model. The developed model has proven that is a reliable tool and extremely useful from the practical point of view. This model could help the exploitation of the Micro-CHP Portuguese market, which in turns contributes for accomplish the targets of Kyoto protocol and EU cogeneration Directive, as well.