A review of renewable energy based cogeneration technologies

A major focus of the current energy debate is how to meet the future demand for electricity. Conservation in buildings and industry, and conversion of utility central station capacity to alternate fuels will play a major role in meeting this demand. But cost-effective conservation measures can only go so far, and the industrial and commercial sectors ultimately will have to seek alternative sources of energy. Moreover, electric utilities may face financial, environmental, or other constraints on the conversion of their existing capacity to fuels other than oil, or on the construction of new alternate-fuelled capacity. A wide range of alternate fuels and conversion technologies has been proposed for the industrial, commercial, and electric utility sectors. One of the most promising commercially available technologies is cogeneration. Cogeneration systems produce both electrical (or mechanical) energy and thermal energy from the same primary energy source. This paper reviews the present day cogeneration technologies based on renewable sources of energy. Study of novel methods, existing designs, theoretical and experimental analyses, modeling and simulation, environmental issues and economics and related energy policies have been discussed in this paper. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.