Cogeneration

Microgeneration

As it is commonly known, the big difference between District Heating and local Combined Heat & Power, consists essentially in the different methods how the two systems use the produced overall energy (Heat and Electricity).

In District Heating we have a big amount of electric power that is directly fed into the public grid, while the co-produced heat (hot water) is moved to distant users, generally residential buildings.

In DISTRIBUTED COGENERATION, on the contrary, all of the produced heat is used on site, by a user that generally also self-consumes the whole co-produced electricity.

The most recognized experience in Italy about the Distributed Microcogeneration results to be the one attained by the Municipality (AIM - Aziende Industriali Municipalizzate) of Vicenza: a thorough investigation showed that some end-users like swimming pools, colleges and communities needed hot water continuously, for more than 4,500 hours a year. Starting from 1981, a lot of small modules in CHP were installed on site. Since then the CHP units fleet is under continuous upgrading and expansion.
In 1995 the town of Vicenza was already in the position to say that, thanks to their Distributed Micro-Cogeneration Program, a "virtual" 1 MW in electricity power plant had been installed without building it, replaced by many scattered small installations.

The CHP units that are complying with the Directive of the European Union 8/2004CE, dated February 11th, 2004, where it is stated the MICRO_COGENERATION concept, result that ones equipped with thermal engines, gas fuelled, in the range between 1 to 50 kWe.

The technology progresses on products and components, and the solutions applied toward the end-user's needs, made it possibile the realisation of the TANDEM project.
The TANDEM Micro-Cogenerator, is a reliable and easy to use small CHP unit, fit for a market in continuous running evolution.

TANDEM - Thermal AND Electrical Machine ®

To produce jointly Heat and Electric Power, directly at the user's premises, gives the big advantages for:

1. Zero Heat Distribution losses (Heat is used locally)
2. Zero Electricity Distribution losses (Power is fed directly to the Low Voltage grid)
3. Limitation of current voltage drops at the far end of the electricity distribution lines.
4. No need for dedicated big buildings for the power plants.

SMALL SCALE CHP gives another additional big advantage: the installation of such units directly at the end-user's premises reduces, under a national point of view, the energy black-out risks into the public grid.