The State and Local Energy Efficiency Action Network (SEE Action) recently released a Guide to Successful Implementation of State Combined Heat and Power Policies that informs state utility regulators, energy officials, and other state policymakers with actionable information to assist them in implementing key state policies that impact combined heat and power (CHP), such as:
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Design of standby rates
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Interconnection standards for CHP with no electricity export
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Excess power sales
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Clean energy portfolio standards (CEPS)
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Emerging market opportunities -- CHP in critical infrastructure and utility participation in CHP markets.
Achieving greater use of CHP is consistent with President Obama’s Executive Order 13626 -- Accelerating Investment in Industrial Energy Efficiency, which calls for 40 gigawatts (GW) of new, cost-effective CHP by 2020. CHP can provide significant energy efficiency and environmental advantages over separate heat and power. By being more efficient, less fuel is consumed and greenhouse gases (GHGs) and other emissions are reduced. Properly designed CHP can bolster the grid, provide security benefits, and potentially support intermittent renewable energy sources.
The guide was developed by SEE Action's Industrial Energy Efficiency and Combined Heat and Power Working Group and the Driving Ratepayer-Funded Efficiency through Regulatory Policies Working Group. NASEO provided extensive written comments on the SEE Action document to help elevate CHP issues of particular importance to State Energy Offices and their private sector partners.
SEE Action is a state and local working group overseen by the U.S. Department of Energy. To learn more, click here, or contact Network Coordinator Johanna Zetterberg for more information.