Combined Cycle/TES Plant Can Save $1 ,244,474 per Year

P roposed Cogen Syste m for a 1,lO O,OOO -ft 2 Medica l Com plex H as a P ayback Period of 2.6 Year s

Abstract

Th is a rt icle pr esen ts a comp ar ativ e an a lys is b etw een an inn ova -
tive "proposed," com bine d he at in g/coolin g cogene ra tion pow er plant
and a "base" pl ant for a n appr oximately 1.1 milli on ft 2 ho spit al/ office
complex t o be located in Toledo, Ohi o. The comp lex con sists of th ree
bui ldings: a six -story hospita l and tw o identi ca l 12-story office towers :
Whi le ea ch of the bui ldings in th e base plant h as it s own centra l plant ,
th e pr oposed Mod ular H ybrid Com bine d Cycle Coge ne r a t ionlT ES
pl ant is design ed to se rve th e ent ire complex .
Th e compa ra ti ve an a lysis b et ween th e tw o pl ant s h as shown
su bsta ntia l cost sav ings for th e proposed p lant beca use of r edu cti on in
uti lit y a n d m aint en an ce cost s and, the re fore, th e tot a l annu al oper a t -
ing costs of th e ove ra ll p lant . Thi s r educti on in op erat in g co st s is
mai nl y du e to th e fact that appro xim at ely 95% of th e tot a l r equi r ed
an nual electr ical pow er is prod uced on-site by cogen eration, and th ere -
fore on ly 5% of it s annu al est imate d pow er need s ar e n eeded to be
purch ased from a utilit y.
Reduction in t he numb er of pl ant oper ato rs for th e pr oposed pla nt
has a lso mad e siza ble cont ribut ion to th e annu al oper at ing cost sav -
in gs . Al th ough th e in st all ed fir st cost of t he pr oposed plant was hi gh er
in com pa rison, th e total oper at ing cost savi ngs of $1,244,474 p er year
has re sult ed in a cost -effective simple pa yba ck p eri od of 2.6 yea r s for th e pr oposed pl ant .
Addi ti onall y, th e design of th e pr oposed plan t has resul ted in a
s ubsta nt ia lly com pact ce nt ra l plan t (an a pproximate ly 29 Cff decrea se in
ph ysical size) in compa rison to th e base pl ant hav in g thr ee se pa ra te
ce nt r al plant s. Th e full y dedic at ed pr oposed plan t contri b utes to re-
du ced dem and ch ar ges associated wit h the t ime-of-use electr ical ra tes,
b ett er ope rat ion and m ain ten an ce, efficient ene rgy man agem ent ,
hi gh er ove ra ll sys te m efficiency, and reduc ed levels of emissions and
noise.
With th e a nt icipa te d nati onwide der egul ati on of t he elect ric util-
ity indu s tr y (already und er way in 40 s ta te s ), the pr oposed pl ant can
offer via ble solutions to elect ric, s tea m, h eatin g and cooling gene ra tio n
need s for l ar ge multi-building complexes