Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

This report describes an investigation at Ernesto Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) of the potential for coupling combined heat and power (CHP) with on-site electricity generation to provide power and heating, and cooling services to customers. This research into distributed energy resources (DER) builds on the concept of the microgrid (mGrid), a semiautonomous grouping of power-generating sources that are placed and operated by and for the benefit of its members. For this investigation, a hypothetical small shopping mall ("Microgrid Oaks") was developed and analyzed for the cost effectiveness of installing CHP to provide the mGrid's energy needs. A mGrid consists of groups of customers pooling energy loads and installing a combination of generation resources that meets the particular mGrid's goals. This study assumes the mGrid is seeking to minimize energy costs. mGrids could operate independently of the macrogrid (the wider power network), but they are usually assumed to be connected, through power electronics, to the macrogrid. The mGrid in this study is assumed to be interconnected to the macrogrid, and can purchase some energy and ancillary services from utility providers.