Impact of Combined Heat and Power generation on an industrial site distribution network

With the growing demand and cost of electric power in industrial networks, more and more companies are evaluating efficient ways to generate their own electricity. Sustainable energy and Combined Heat and Power and Cooling (CHPC) plants are seen as two ways to generate electricity on-site efficiently, depending on the application. Distributed generation (DG) plays a key role in companies reducing their maximum import capacity (MIC) hence reducing their electricity overheads. DG can be defined as electric power generation within distribution networks or on the customer side of the network. When DG is incorporated into industrial networks issues arise, this is due to the change of key parameters within the industrial site distribution network (ISDN) such as fluctuations in voltage levels, changes in short circuit levels and the operation of the network protection system during faults and disturbances. This paper studies the impact of such DG on a typical ISDN. A case study is carried out on the energy network of one of the worlds leading contact lens manufacturing facilities, located in the South of Ireland.