Industrial Cogeneration
Cogeneration, or combined heat and power (CHP), plants produce both electricity and thermal or mechanical energy for industrial processes, space conditioning, or hot water. In the Pacific Northwest, there are different types of industrial cogeneration, namely biomass and natural gas plants. Industrial cogeneration in the forest products industry has long been a component of Pacific Northwest electric power generation. These plants include chemical recovery boilers in the pulp and paper industry, and power boilers fired by wood residues, fuel oil, and gas in both the pulp and paper and lumber and wood products sectors. Gas-fired combustion turbines have also been installed as industrial cogeneration units, oftentimes with the waste heat (steam) being used for secondary heating purposes.
As demand for paper and newsprint has declined over the past decade, several local wood product manufacturers have suspended operations. Without the biofuel waste produced from the factories, the biomass plants have been forced to close as well. Many industrial cogeneration plants do not sell power offsite or generate power only when fuel costs are favorable, therefore a precise inventory of operating industrial cogeneration plants is difficult to obtain. For these purposes, the known plants have been included in the generating capacity of the primary resource, for example biomass and natural gas. For a detailed breakdown by plant, see the Council’s generating projects database.