Energy Policy 39 (2011) 55285534

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Energy Policy
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Combined heat and power considered as a virtual steam cycle heat pump
Robert Lowe n
UCL Energy Institute, London, WC1H 0NN, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history: Received 21 January 2011 Accepted 9 May 2011 Available online 8 June 2011 Keywords: Combined heat and power Heat pumps Thermodynamics

a b s t r a c t
The rst aim of this paper is to shed light on the thermodynamic reasons for the practical pursuit of low temperature operation by engineers involved in the design and the operation of combined heat and power (CHP) and district heating (DH) systems. The paper shows that the steam cycle of a combined heat and power generator is thermodynamically equivalent to a conventional steam cycle generator plus an additional virtual steam cycle heat pump. This apparently novel conceptualisation leads directly to (i) the observed sensitivity of coefcient of performance of CHP to supply and return temperatures in associated DH systems, and (ii) the conclusion that the performance of CHP will tend to be signicantly higher than real heat pumps operating at similar temperatures. The second aim, which is pursued more qualitatively, is to show that the thermodynamic performance advantages of CHP are consistent with the goal of deep, long-term decarbonisation of industrialised economies. As an example, estimates are presented, which suggest that CHP based on combined-cycle gas turbines with carbon capture and storage has the potential to reduce the carbon intensity of delivered heat by a factor of $ 30, compared with a base case of natural gas-red condensing boilers. & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction The main aim of the rst part of this paper is to shed light on the performance of combined heat and power (CHP) based on large steam cycle plant through a consideration of the fundamental thermodynamics of such plant. The argument presented, though technical, is simple and accessible to a wide readership. The key insight is that the steam cycle of combined heat and power generator is thermodynamically equivalent to that of a conventional steam cycle generator plus an additional steam cycle heat pump. The paper shows that this apparently novel conceptualisation enables rapid estimation of the energy performance of combined heat and power plant in terms of the temperature at which they supply heat to associated district heating systems. More importantly, it illuminates some of the strategic issues at work in the design of combined heat and power and district heatingparticularly those around the choice of operating temperatures. For example, the systems that operate at ow temperatures of 90 1C and return temperatures of 35 1C can have COPs approaching 9. Such performance levels would be of academic interest only if CHP were fundamentally incompatible with the long-term goal of more-or-less complete decarbonisation of terrestrial infrastructure in developed economies. The second part of the paper is therefore taken up with a discussion of a variety of ways in which CHP and associated district heating (DH) systems can contribute

to this long-term goal. This discussion is framed in terms of engineering principles, and does not extend to an analysis of economic costs. Nevertheless, all of the options considered lie within the envelope of systems currently under discussion within the energy policy community. Beyond the engineering, the discussion presented here has implications for policy. On the one hand, CHP appears to offer an alternative to strategies of electrication of heat supply espoused, e.g. by the Committee on Climate Change in the UK, and, on the other hand, to strategies based on the use of biomass and/or precombustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) to extend the useful life of existing gas grids. More immediately, the paper suggests that the denition of renewable heat currently included in the EU Renewable Energy Directive, which includes conventional heat pumps but excludes thermodynamically equivalent combined heat and power, is inconsistent.

2. Comparing the thermodynamics of conventional and combined heat and power steam cycles A convenient way to understand the thermodynamics of a heat engine is to plot the state point of the working uid at all points of the engines working cycle on a temperature/entropy or Molier diagram.1 The temperature/entropy diagram for a standard steam
1 A more extended introduction to this approach to describing the performance of turbines is provided in Volume C of Modern Power Station Practice (Martin and Hannah, 1991).

Tel.: 44 20 3108 5961. E-mail address: robert.lowe@ucl.ac.uk

0301-4215/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2011.05.007

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Nomenclature T S Tcon Qin Qcon temperature (K or 1C) entropy (J/(kg K)) temperature at which steam is exhausted from lowpressure turbines in conventional, non-CHP plant heat input to the steam cycle of electricity generating plant heat contained in the steam exhausted at a temperature Tcon from low-pressure turbines in conventional, non-CHP plant; this steam is subsequently condensed and the latent heat it contains is rejected to the environment temperature at which steam is exhausted from lowpressure turbines in CHP plantthe latent heat contained in this steam is supplied to a district heating network

Qchp W

Wchp

DWchp

Whp COP COPcarnot

Tchp

heat contained in the steam exhausted, at a temperature Tchp, from low-pressure turbines in CHP plant work output from the turbines in a conventional power plant; in this paper, no distinction is made between work and electrical outputin practice, they will not differ by more than a few percent work output from the turbines in a CHP plant reduction in work output from CHP plant, measured with respect to equivalent non-CHP plant, as a result of raising the condensing temperature from Tcon to Tchp work input to a real heat pump coefcient of performance of real or virtual heat pumps Carnot limit to the COP of a heat pump operating between two dened temperatures

turbine cycle is shown, in sketch form, in Fig. 1. The steam cycle shown is based on that of Drax power station in the UK,2 but the specics are not important to the argument presented in this paper. The line labelled Tcon denotes the temperature at which steam is exhausted from the low-pressure turbines and condensed. Because in a reversible process dQ T dS, the total heat owing R into the steam is the integral T dS around the upper part of the R curve and the heat rejected to the environment is T dS along the bottom (condenser) line. Assuming that the rst law holds, W Qin Qcon, and therefore the work is simply the difference between the two integrals, which in turn is equal to the area inside the line on the diagram above. The Molier diagram in Fig. 1 represents what happens in a standard condensing steam turbine, with a condensing temperature of perhaps 35 1C (equivalent to a water vapour pressure of roughly 50 mbar). The starting point for this analysis of the thermodynamics of combined heat and power is to split this cycle diagram into two parts at a temperature of Tchp (Fig. 2). The rst thing to notice is that by converting the conventional power station to combined heat and power operation, we have produced some useful heat but sacriced some work. The CHP cycle for a given Qin rejects Qchp ( 4 Qcon) to the district heating network, at a temperature Tchp ( 4 Tcon), and produces a power output of Wchp W DWchp. This is precisely what a heat pump does. The question is what is the relationship between the power lost, DWchp and the quantity of useful heat gained, Qchp? Inspection of Fig. 2 reveals that we can transform the split Molier diagram for the conventional power station into the Molier diagram for a CHP station by adding a virtual steam cycle exactly opposite to the bottom part of the split diagramthe equal and opposite cycles cancel algebraically. This transformation is shown in Fig. 3. This virtual cycle has a simple shape and rather simple thermodynamic properties. To a good approximation, all heat absorption takes place along the lower horizontal line at a constant temperature Tcon, and all heat rejection takes place along the upper horizontal line at a constant temperature Tchp. The cycle that we have added is effectively a virtual Carnot engine operating between temperatures Tcon and Tchp. Moreover, because the device absorbs work to move heat from a lower temperature to a

higher temperature, it is a heat pump3. The limiting coefcient of performance (COP) of this device is COPcarnot Qchp =DWchp Tchp =Tcon 2Tchp For those unfamiliar with the principles of heat pumps, brief inspection of this equation reveals the most important factor to be the difference between the condensing temperatures of the conventional generator, Tcon, and of the CHP generator, Tchp. The smaller the difference, the larger the limiting COP of the steam cycle heat pump. It would be difcult to build a real steam cycle heat pump operating between these temperatures. The main drawback would be the very large specic volume of steam. But this is not a problem for engineers of CHP systems, because our steam cycle heat pump is only a virtual one. In principle, we do not have to make a real steam cycle heat pump. We merely have to choose not to make a real steam cycle heat engine (consisting of the last few stages of a conventional low-pressure turbine).4 3. Further consequences The fact that the heat pump that we are discussing is a virtual one has further consequences. A virtual heat pump reverses the direction of heat and other losses. Such a heat pump is able to compress its working uid without heat owing from the working uid to the environmentin fact heat ows the other way, up the temperature gradient and into the virtual working uid. In a similar vein, virtual turbulence in the working uid coheres and blows the turbine blades around, virtual friction turns the shaft of the compressor and virtual electrical and magnetic losses in the alternator produce useful power. A virtual heat pump has the additional advantage that it effectively pumps heat from a source at $ 40 1C, rather than from anywhere between 10 and 10 1C for most conventional heat pumps operating in the heating season in temperate regions of the world.5
3 A Carnot cycle consists only of processes at constant temperature or constant entropy, and its Moiier diagram is therefore rectangular. The main departure for this virtual cycle is the oblique line at the left-hand end that links the horizontal condenser and evaporator lines. 4 But note that practical CHP plant may or may not omit the nal stages of the low-pressure turbine. Plant that does is referred to as back-pressure plant. The alternative is to incorporate a full low-pressure turbine, with provision for exhausting steam from the cycle at one or more intermediate pointsa so-called intermediate take-off condenser. This provides the exibility to operate like conventional non-CHP plant with condensation taking place at $ 30 1C, or to operate in CHP mode with condensation taking place at a higher temperature. 5 Ground source heat pumps pump from the temperature of the ground, which in temperate regions of the world is around 10 1C. Air source heat pumps pump from

2 Drax is a coal red power station in the North of England, completed in 1986 (http://www.draxpower.com).

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This conveniently high temperature arises in part because of the practical difculty of building real low-pressure steam turbines that condense at pressures much below 50 mbar, and in part because, as noted above, the temperature drop across the condenser in a conventional steam cycle turbine turns into a temperature rise across the virtual evaporator in the equivalent steam cycle heat pump.

Fig. 1. Temperatureentropy diagram for steam with a sketch of a single reheat steam cycle for a typical late 20th century fossil-red power station superimposed. Heat input takes place in the upper parts of the cycle, which correspond to the boiler, superheater and reheater. Work output to electrical generators takes place in the vertical parts of the cycle, which correspond to the turbines. Heat rejection to the environment takes place along the horizontal line at the bottom of the cycle, which corresponds to the power stations condensers.

The virtual cycle that we have had to add to convert our conventional, condensing plant into a CHP plant, appears to contravene the laws of thermodynamics. We are in the slightly bizarre situation of describing a (virtual) device that has a practical performance higher than the Carnot limit for the equivalent real device. Nothing, of course, in practice contravenes the laws of thermodynamics. That a virtual steam cycle heat pump appears to do so is just the consequence of the consistent application of a sign convention. The overall effect is shown schematically in Fig. 4. To construct this gure, estimates of practical performance have been derived by dividing the Carnot COP by a combined efciency of 90% for the turbo-alternator. This is broadly in line with estimates in the literature for alternators (efciencies $ 97%) and modern lowpressure steam turbines (isentropic efciencies $ 94%)see e.g. Bhatt (2011). Older and smaller turbines may have signicantly worse performance, which would lead to higher CHP performance, but this has been discounted. As with any real heat pump system, overall performance of a virtual steam cycle heat pump can be improved by replacing a single stage heat pump with a two-stage heat pump. The effect of this is shown in Fig. 5, which has been calculated on the assumptions that

 the return temperature of water from the district heating

system is 35 1C;

Fig. 2. Conceptual decomposition of steam cycle for a conventional power station (left hand side) into a steam cycle for a CHP power station (upper right hand side) plus a virtual, very low-pressure cycle (lower right hand side).

Fig. 3. Equivalence of a CHP power station steam cycle (bottom) to a conventional power station steam cycle plus a virtual steam cycle heat pump (upper right hand side).

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16 14 COP of virtual heat pump 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 50 70 90 110 CHP condensing temperature TCHP (C) 130 Carnot practical

Fig. 4. Carnot limit and indication of practical limit to the COP for a virtual steam cycle heat pump.

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 50 70 90 110 CHP condensing temperature TCHP (C) 130 practical, 1 stage practical, 2 stage practical, 3 stage

Fig. 5. Indicative effect of two- and three-stage heating on performance of virtual steam cycle heat pump. Increasing numbers of stages result in increasing complexity and declining marginal improvements in efciency.

 each stage of heating involves a heat exchanger with a

temperature difference of 5 K across it, and

The effects of two- and three-stage heating are shown schematically in Fig. 5. Qualitatively, the move to multi-stage heating makes the system sensitive to the return temperature of the DH network. If two-stage heating is combined with a district heating supply temperature of 90 1C and a return temperature of 35 1C, the analysis suggests that a COP approaching 9 can achieved. Even allowing for $ 20% losses6 in the (real) district heating system outside the CHP power station, the effective COP of such a system would approach 7signicantly higher than could be achieved with a real heat pump. Recent work in Denmark suggests that much lower operating temperatures are possiblea ow temperature of just 55 1C has recently been demonstrated in a development of 122 low energy dwellings (Anon, 2011). While it would not be possible to operate at such low temperatures over a large urban area, supply temperatures of the order of 65 1C may be possible, potentially leading to COPs, including losses in distribution, in excess of 10. Note that a virtual heat pump takes its electricity directly from the power station it is part of, and therefore avoids the transmission and distribution losses that would be incurred by a system of conventional heat pumps in individual dwellings. Averaged over the year, transmission and distribution losses in DH systems are typically more than twice those in an electricity distribution systemannual average transmission and distribution losses in the UK are of the order of 7% (DECC 2010). But during periods of maximum demand the relationship is reversed, because losses in DH systems that operate at constant temperatures remain roughly constant in absolute terms, and are therefore lower as a fraction of heat supplied, but losses in electricity systems increase roughly as the square of the current carried. What are the limits to this analysis? It seems to the author that it is useful in the case where electricity is currently or will in the foreseeable future be produced by steam turbines, and where there is a heat load at some temperature Tchp, which needs to be met. What the above analysis shows is that from a system point of view, supplying such a heat load from CHP is directly analogous to introducing electric heat pumps. Seen from outside the system boundary (represented in each case by the large rectangle), Fig. 6 is thermodynamically equivalent to Fig. 7. The main difference is that, provided conventional and CHP plants are indistinguishable with respect to the upper part of the cycle shown in Fig. 2,7 the practical performance of systems based on CHP is necessarily higher than that of systems based on conventional heat pumps and conventional power stationsto reiterate, the COP of a virtual steam cycle heat pump operating at an output temperature of 95 1C (suitable for district heating with a supply temperature of $ 90 1C) is likely to be of the order of 9. COPs for real heat pumps sized for individual dwellings are typically around 50% of the Carnot limit, typically $ 3. The performance advantage for CHP is therefore of the order of a factor of 3. Some readers will note that not all the heat supplied by district heating systems comes from CHP. In the current Danish system, around 20% comes from heat-only boilers (Danish Energy Agency, 2008). Historically these were fossil red, and would have been

 the temperature of the second stage of heating is arranged so

that the two stages contribute equal quantities of heat to the district heating system.
6 The readers should note that the normal laws of thermodynamics re-apply as soon as one crosses the boundary between a virtual steam cycle heat pump and the real district heating infrastructure to which it is connected. The rate of loss quoted is the 2007 average for Danish district heating systems (Danish Energy Agency, 2008) and is dened as a fraction of heat sent out. Other things being equal, losses from district heating systems rise somewhat faster than operating temperatures. Systems that operate at higher temperatures will have correspondingly higher heat distribution losses, in addition to a lower COP. 7 This criterion is an important one, and in a more general form applies to all CHP systems, not just those that use steam turbines. Not all currently available technologies satisfy it and some, for example Stirling engine-based micro-CHP, do not come close (Carbon Trust, 2007, 2011).

(footnote continued) ambient air temperature, which ranges from 10 to 10 1C in temperate regions in the colder half of the year. Air source heat pumps pump from higher temperatures in summer leading in principle to higher COPs during that season, but heat demand is smaller and demand temperatures are also higher. COP weighted according to heat demand is dominated by winter conditions in most buildings.

COP of virtual heat pump

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Fig. 6. System diagram of a conventional power station driving a real heat pump.

Fig. 7. System diagram for CHP power station.

responsible for a half or more of total emissions. The period from 1980 to 2007 has seen a strategic shift in the source of non-CHP heat in Danish district heating systems away from oil and coal (86% in 1980 falling to 25% in 2007) and towards gas (zero in 1980, rising to 26% in 2007) and renewable energy (10% in 1980 rising to 40% in 2007) (Danish Energy Agency, 2008). This has signicantly reduced the use of conventional primary energy in such systems. Peak heat load boilers (a sub-set of heat-only boilers) play a similar part in the thermodynamics of CHP/DH to the peak load electric resistance heating characteristic of single dwelling heat pump systems, but by burning fossil fuel or biomass directly, they make a lower contribution to total emissions from CHP/DH systems than if the equivalent amount of heat were supplied electrically.

4. Discussion The fact that the ability of CHP systems to produce heat at a useful temperature requires a loss of electrical output has been known for many years. The nature of this loss has been explored in detail (see e.g. Postlethwaite, 1980). The original contribution of the present paper is to reframe an otherwise complex set of engineering facts in terms of a simple thermodynamic argument. The main consequence of the thermodynamic argument set out here is that there are signicant overall energy efciency advantages to operating CHP systems at the lowest possible supply temperatures.8 These advantages are over and above a number of practical
8 One of the more interesting features of the development of combined heat and power, particularly in Denmark, is the historical trend towards lower operating temperatures. The earliest large-scale example that the author is aware

benets from low temperature operation, which include reduced heat losses, simplication of engineering and operation of the distribution network (Robinson, 1980), greater ease of integration of renewable energy (Lund et al., 2010) and the ability to use district heating in conjunction with highly insulated dwellings (Moller and Lund, 2010; Zinko et al., 2008). The analysis presented here applies directly to any power station in which heat is exhausted to the environment from a steam turbine. It thus applies directly to combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) and nuclear stationsthe potential importance of both for the medium-to-long term is obvious. The differences between CCGT and conventional steam turbines concern the high temperature end of the respective cycles; the low temperature technology (which is the only part of the system affected by CHP) is identical across all generating plants in which the nal stage in electricity generation is a steam turbine. The analysis can be extended more or less loosely to other classes of CHP generators, for example systems based on internal combustion engines, but the power of the analysis for steam cycle power stations lies in the clear identication of the virtual steam cycle heat pump in the CHP system with actual physical components in real conventional power stations. Thermodynamic efciency is not the sole criterion for assessing the parts that technologies such as CHP may play in energy systems of the future. Limiting the extent of global climate change to close to 2 K will require deep decarbonisation of industrialised societies. In the UK, a reduction target of 80% was made legally binding by the passing of the Climate Change Act (2008) and the subsequent Carbon Budgets Order (2009). As the Committee on Climate Change has recently conrmed, meeting such stringent overall targets will require the almost complete decarbonisation of the stationary sectors of the economy, including the power generation sector (Committee on Climate Change, 2010). Apart from their higher thermodynamic performance, the main difference between the virtual heat pumps of combined heat and power and real heat pumps is that a virtual heat pump is permanently connected to a dedicated power plant. This lock-in raises the question of whether CHP is a medium-term rather than a long-term generation option. Unless it is possible to establish that the thermodynamic gains from CHP need not be won at the expense of a signicant overall increase in carbon emissions from electricity generation, the analysis presented here would be of academic interest only. It is not the main function of the present paper to present detailed analysis in this area, but an outline of reasons for believing that CHP can satisfy the above condition must be put. These are threefold. First, conversion of thermal power stations that would be likely to continue to operate for several decades provides a mediumterm route to CHP and district heating, even where infrastructure is currently underdeveloped. A potential example of such a conversion is provided by the existing CCGT power station at Barking, at the eastern edge of London (Poyry Energy, 2007). Provided that such conversion does not signicantly extend the life of existing power stations, the condition is satised. Second, both new and converted CHP generators can in principle be combined with a number of other technologies to provide a spectrum of technology options with carbon emissions that range from low to negative. These include the combination of CHP with pre- or post-combustion CCS9, red either with natural gas or biomass. One or more of these combinations may allow combustion-based thermal generation of electricity and heat to

(footnote continued) of is the scheme at Odense, which has operated at a ow temperature of 9095 1C for many years (Rimmen, 2002). There are counter examples, e.g. in the operation of the Greater Copenhagen scheme, where higher operating temperatures stem from the need to link together a number of earlier schemes. 9 The author has previously suggested this option (Lowe, 2007).

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carbon intensity of heat (kg (CO2)/kWh)

persist into the second half of the current century, even against a background of deep cuts in emissions from the electricity generation sector. The key would appear to ensure that any future CHP plant is either built with technology to allow it to operate with very low carbon emissions or designed to facilitate subsequent retrot. Since current commissioning policy in the UK and elsewhere envisages precisely these options for non-CHP generation, it would appear once again that the condition stated above is satised. Third, the heat distribution networks that must necessarily be built downstream of CHP generators signicantly extend the range of future low and zero carbon options for providing heat and electricity by

0.25

0.20

0.15

0.10

 allowing the capture of heat from existing and future heat 

sources (the latter could in principle include heat losses from future CCS systems); supporting the development of large thermal storage facilities, harnessing the obvious economies of scale, and capable of absorbing signicant inputs of electricity from variable generation sources such as renewables and providing a platform for the development of large-scale heat pumps (Blarke and Lund, 2007; Lund and Mathiesen, 2009), which would in principle be capable of achieving technical and operational economies of scale with respect to building-scale systems, and of harnessing sources of heat that would be less vulnerable to low ambient temperatures than air source heat pumps (stergaard and Lund, 2011).

0.05

0.00 gas heat pump, CHP, condensing UK mean el unabated boiler mix 2010 coal CHP, CHP, CCGT CCGT+CCS

Fig. 8. Comparisons of carbon intensity of delivered heat for a range of possible heat supply technologies. Carbon intensity for unabated coal, and emission reduction factor for CCGT with CCS from Hammond et al. (2011).

In the long run therefore, CHP/DH systems have the ability to provide very low carbon heat and electricity through the addition of CCS to conventional fossil-red power stations, and through the ability of district heating to facilitate the use of renewable energy in heating and electricity production (Dyrelund and Lund, 2010; Poyry Energy, 2010). The carbon intensity of heat delivered (assuming supply and return temperatures of 90/35 1C with twostage heating and 20% distribution losses) would be of the order of 0.065 g(CO2)/kW h for systems based on CCGT and in the region of 0.008 g(CO2)/kW h for future CCGT CCS systems, assuming an 88% reduction in CO2 emissions due to CCS (Hammond et al. 2011). These gures represent reductions of the order of $ 70% and $ 97% in the carbon intensity of delivered heat compared with natural gas burnt in a condensing gas boiler10see Fig. 8. For CHP from CCGT with CCS, the estimate is low enough to be vulnerable to a range of second order effects including methane leakage from natural gas production and distribution, secondary products of combustion such as nitrogen oxides, and leakage of refrigerant from conventional heat pumpsat this level, direct CO2 emissions from the power station are in the noise. It is also important to acknowledge the limitations of any analysis of individual technologies that treats them as independent of the wider energy supply, transmission and enduse system.11
This brief analysis suggests that the almost complete decarbonisation of heat supply can be achieved without measures at the dwelling level. In the context of the growing awareness of the difculty and high cost of achieving reductions in heat demand for existing dwellings in excess of 80% through measures applied to individual dwellings, this is an important conclusion. It must, however, be qualied. Insulation and other energy efciency measures undertaken at the dwelling level reduce the capital costs of all upstream energy supply infrastructure, and are therefore likely to be crucial to achieving deep decarbonisation at overall minimum economic cost. 11 In connection with this discussion of CHP from potentially capital expensive combinations of technology, it is worth noting the effects of CHP on load factors. The load factor of a CHP power station may be lower than that of an individual conventional power station, as a result of the need to follow seasonal
10

As important as the long term is, it is also necessary to look at the short term. Within the current UK discourse on the decarbonisation of heat, the key technology is seen as the single dwelling electric heat pump (Committee on Climate Change, 2010; Lowe, 2007). This approach is reinforced by the wording of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (EU, 2009), which denes heat pumps, but not combined heat and power, as renewable. The criticisms of this approach include

 To reduce CO2 emissions, the COP of heat pumps needs to

exceed the ratio of the carbon intensity of grid electricity to the carbon intensity of heat supplied by conventional meansin the UK mostly natural gas burnt in gas boilers. Recent UK experience with electric heat pumps reveals a complex picture (Energy Saving Trust, 2010), but one that provides no grounds for believing that this criterion is likely to be satised before the end of the current decade. Because of the high COP of virtual steam cycle heat pumps, CHP from large power stations can, in principle, meet it immediately. The performance of single dwelling, electrically driven, airsource heat pumps during periods of low external temperature (which, in winter-peaking grids, coincide with periods of peak electricity demand), is poorly dened but lower than the annual average (Energy Saving Trust, 2010). This in turn means that the additional electricity generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure needed to support them are also poorly dened.12 Together with ground source and geothermal

(footnote continued) variations in the demand for heat. But shifting heat supply from conventional heat pumps to CHP will improve the overall load factor for the electricity system, as a result of better cold weather performance of CHP compared to conventional heat pumps, the ability of DH systems to switch to sources of heat other than CHP during cold weather and the routine incorporation of heat storage in DH systems. 12 It appears that in the UK the capacity of the low voltage electricity generation system is of the order of 1 kV A per dwelling. This suggests that large-scale uptake of single dwelling electric heat pumps would require signicant reinforcement of this system. Estimating the additional capacity required is complicated because most air source heat pumps switch to resistance heating in very cold weather, doubling or trebling the load imposed on the grid. The construction of new district heating networks avoids the need to reinforce the electricity distribution system and associated uncertainties. Intermittent heating will also be a signicant factor.

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heat pumps, the much higher source temperature of virtual steam cycle heat pumps (see above under Further consequences) means that their performance is unaffected by periods of low external temperature. The analysis presented here suggests that it would be appropriate to consider alternatives to a strategy of complete electrication of heat supply.

5. Conclusions There are three main conclusions from this paper. The rst, which comes from a consideration of thermodynamics of CHP and conventional steam turbines, is that the comparison of CHP with conventional heat pumps is not coincidental, but fundamental. CHP is most conveniently conceived of as a virtual steam cycle heat pump with a performance that exceeds the Carnot limit for real heat pumps operating under equivalent conditions. Practically, the performance advantage with respect to heat pumps for individual dwellings is of the order of a factor of 3. The second, more qualitative conclusion is that the need to achieve deep cuts in CO2 emissions by the middle of the current century does not appear to preclude the option of CHP for provision of space and water heat to buildings. The third is that the equivalence of CHP and heat pumps at the thermodynamic level might be expected to lead to a similarity of treatment at the policy level, but this appears not always to be the case. The arguments presented here may provide grounds for reconsidering such differences.

Acknowledgement This paper is based on a working paper written by the author circa 1980. The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance provided by William Orchard and David Olivier during the writing of the current version of this paper, and the helpful and constructive comments of two anonymous referees. References
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