Cogeneration: Where Will it Fit in the Deregulated Market?

Several states in the United States are opening their electricpower markets to competition. Among them California and Massa-chusetts on Jan . 1, 1998 (currently California experiences a problemwith the trading computer's communication, so the implementationhas been delayed beyond Jan . 1, 1998), Rhode Island on July 1, 1998,Pennsylvania on Jan . 1,1999, and Michigan will phase in competitionthrough 2002.Cogeneration due to potentially high efficiency can be very com-petitive in a deregulated market. Cogeneration can achieveextremely high levels of thermal efficiency, much higher than themost advanced and sophisticated combined cycle power plants gener-ating only electric power.And thermal efficiency is one of the key factors in determiningthe power plant economics and feasibility. High efficiency means alesser amount of fuel is used to generate the same amount of energy .In turn, burning a lesser amount of fuel means that fewer pollutantswill be emitted.