What is cogeneration ?

What is cogeneration ?

in power electrical

Cogeneration (also combined heat and power, CHP) is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat.

Cogeneration in simple word small power plant. The different between both are, power plant produce only electric energy but cogeneration only produce small capacity electricity energy and heat energy (steam or hot water).

Cogeneration is a highly efficient means of generating heat and electric power at the same time from the same energy source. Displacing fossil fuel combustion with heat that would normally be wasted in the process of power generation, it reaches efficienciences that can triple, or even quadruple, conventional power generation.

Cogeneration is the simultaneous production of heat and power in a single thermodynamic process. Almost all cogeneration utilizes hot air and steam for the process fluid, although certain types of fuel cells also cogenerate.

History
Hot-air cogeneration, which is found in modern combustion turbines, can be traced back to medieval smokejacks. Steam cogeneration was first applied to the steamjack, which appeared in the early seventeenth century. By the late eighteenth century, waste steam from manufacturing processes was used to power steam engines, and the hot condenser water was used again for other process purposes.

The next paragraphs are taken from another source.

Cogeneration (also combined heat and power, CHP) is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat.

Conventional power plants emit the heat created as a by-product of electricity generation into the environment through cooling towers, flue gas, or by o