It’s been eighteen months since EMMC’s CoGen plant came on-line. The timing could not have been better for EMMC. In the first year of operation, as energy costs have steadily risen, EMMC’s overall costs for heat and electricity have dropped by about $800,000! The cost savings have resulted from a combination of the right technology, “locking in” natural gas prices at a two year low, aggressive equipment uptime goals, and committed attention to energy reducing operating strategies. EMMC is able to generate both heat and its own electricity with just one fuel source, maximizing efficiency of the fuel, getting two “bangs” for the same buck. Right now we’re using natural gas in the turbine, but it has the ability to use fuel oil as well.
The project has been so successful, Jeff Mylen, director of Construction Services for EMMC was asked by Governor Baldacci’s office to present the CoGen project in a panel at the Governor’s Energy Efficiency Summit on April Fourth. Jeff participated in a panel of three to discuss opportunities in using Combined Heat and Power technologies in energy efficiency.
The chart below illustrates the energy cost trends over the last few years, and what the introduction of CoGen has meant for us. For more information on EMMC’s CoGen plant, you can log onto emmc.org and find the EMMC CoGen button at the bottom of the left navigation bar. Congrats to the CoGen team of Paul Jellison, Frank Brown, Kurt Maddan, Tim Cobb, Brian DeGrasse, Wayne Deane, and Scott Humphrey. |
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