An electricity plant that uses one fuel to produce electricity and heat is known as a cogeneration plant. Different cogeneration plants use different types of fuels to generate heat and electricity. Coal, diesel, and petrol were the commonly used fuel until a few years. However, with natural gas abundantly available and cheap in cost, most cogeneration plants are using natural gas as their fuel for electricity and heat generation.
However, with new technologies and other products like biofuels being used as the main fuel, many cogeneration plants like ones built by Suez Energy are based on biofuels and gas resources from landfills as their main fuel.
Working of a cogeneration plant
When the power plant produces electricity, it also produces heat as a byproduct. Now, if this heat is allowed to be released into the environment, it will cause pollution and will also result in the wastage of natural resources. So, these cogeneration plants by Suez Energy are designed in such a manner that they capture the heat and are used for other purposes.
Working as a cogeneration plant, the energy efficiency of these power plants increases substantially, with some plants achieving efficiency of around 90% reducing their operational costs and boosting self-sufficiency while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants simultaneously.
Benefits of setting up cogeneration plants
Cogeneration plants offer loads of advantages in the form of reduced energy costs and huge savings of fossil fuels through reduced consumption. As most new cogeneration plants being set up are based on biofuels or natural gas from landfills, they save millions of dollars, worth of fossil fuels.
Saving in Energy costs:
Since raw material for energy being produced is cheaper than fossil fuels, the cost of energy produced is much lesser than one produced from fossil fuels. Secondly, since the heat generated from the plant is either used for other purposes or used to provide energy to other parts of the plant, there are huge savings for the plant owners.
Also, since cogeneration plants like the one that Suez Energy, is proposing to build in Botany, where it proposes to use gas from landfills and biofuels, it will save huge sums of money in energy costs.
Saving environment:
Production of electricity causes very high pollution, especially those that run on fossil fuels like coal. However, since Suez Energy builds cogeneration plants that are green in nature, saving our environment from deadly pollution caused by other power plants.
The Botany NSW plant is all set to be a game-changer for the area. The plant will use gas from landfills and other materials which cannot be recycled to produce new material. This way it will not only clear much of the landfills in the area but also save the environment from pollution caused due to burning and open littering of such materials.
So, if you want to know more about what is a cogeneration plant, you can get in touch with Suez energy as they are one of the largest power plant builders in Australia who have built many power plants in the country. The botany-NSW cogeneration plant is one of the finest examples of cogeneration plants which will be a much greener plant than those in operation till now. The plant is built on technology that is currently in use in several countries all over Europe and therefore very safe and secure.
