The industrial sector has traditionally been a combined heat & power (CHP) mainstay. These facilities often require both on-site steam for industrial processes as well as reliable power. The last thing they need is blackout-induced downtime. Every hour a plant is down can represent hundreds of thousands of dollars of productivity losses. Hence, resiliency looms large in priorities.
That’s why the bulk of CHP facilities, these days, are fueled by natural gas. With abundant natural gas existing throughout the U.S., it is the go-to fuel for new CHP and combined cycle plants. Natural gas is becoming even more important in the energy mix as a greater percentage of wind and solar energy flood onto the grid.