Recovery Act (ARRA) - Industrial Energy Efficiency

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Title: Recovery Act: Deployment of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Systems, District Energy Systems, Waste Energy Recovery Systems, and Efficient Industrial Equipment In support of the ARRA, the Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) is seeking deployment projects for district energy systems, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and waste energy recovery applications, and energy-efficient industrial equipment and processes. Combined Heat and Power (CHP) offers several distinct advantages over many other electricity and thermal energy generating technologies with regard to performance, availability, and cost. CHP, or cogeneration, is the concurrent production of electricity or mechanical power and useful thermal energy (heating and/or cooling) from a single source of energy. CHP is a suite of technologies that generate electricity or power at the point of use and recover the thermal energy that would normally be lost in the power generation process. This allows for much greater improvement in overall fuel efficiency, resulting in lower operating costs and CO2 emissions. CHP positively impacts the health of local economies while also supporting national policies in a number of ways. District energy systems produce steam, hot water or chilled water at a central plant and then pipe the energy out to buildings in the district for space heating, domestic hot water heating and air conditioning. The scale of district energy systems enables higher efficiencies to be obtained through the centralized system. District energy systems are often operated with CHP technologies, providing efficiencies of 80% or higher. The capital cost of new equipment is often a roadblock for utilization of more efficient equipment and processes. Although the newer technologies would provide lower energy requirements and operating costs, the payback period for some technologies does not meet internal business goals. This FOA will enable deployment of industrial technologies that provide 25% or greater improvement in energy efficiency over the currently-utilized equipment. The objective of the FOA is to solicit applications for cost-shared projects that will deploy sustainable energy infrastructure projects and energy efficient industrial technologies. Specifically, this FOA seeks projects to deploy efficient technologies in the following four areas of interest: 1)Combined Heat and Power; 2) District Energy Systems; 3) Industrial Waste Energy Recovery; 4) Efficient Industrial Equipment The result will be deployment of technologies that will increase our national energy security, provide construction and manufacturing jobs, and build markets for skilled green construction.

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