FAQ: Cogeneration

How does the EED promote cogeneration more than the old Cogeneration Directive that it replaces?

The EED Guidebook prepared by the Coalition for Energy Savings provides a good summary of the differences (page 67):

The promotion of cogeneration was addressed by the combined heat and power (CHP) Directive (2004/8/EC), which will be repealed on 5 June 2014. It required MSs to quantify their CHP potential, but did little in practice to promote the use of CHP. It is important to note that before the EED, district heating and cooling (DHC) technologies did not benefit from promotional legislation at EU level. As a consequence it was estimated that an untapped potential of 25 Mtoe within the EU remained for CHP at the time the EED was being developed. The definitions, reference values and methodology of the CHP Directive have been carried over (as a harmonised set of criteria at EU level) to the EED.

Further the Guidebook states (page 68):

The essential premise of Article 14 is that MSs need to carry out a CA [editor: Comprehensive Assessment] by December 2015 of the potential for implementing high efficiency (HE) co-generation and efficient DHC and report the results to the Commission. This assessment should include both territory level CBA, on the basis of which MSs will facilitate the development of HE CHP and DHC installation cost-benefit analyses.

MSs will also mandate the carrying out of cost benefit analyses whenever existing thermal electricity generation installations, industrial installations or DHC networks are planned or substantially refurbished.

The EED requires MSs to approach heating and cooling at country level in an integrated way, by assessing both heat demand and the potential for HE CHP and efficient DHC to meet this assessed demand cost-effectively.

. . .

The EED requires that, in areas where the benefits are greater than the costs, MSs shall “take adequate measures for efficient DHC infrastructure to be developed and/or to accommodate the development of high-efficiency cogeneration“, based on the positive outcome of the CA and territory-level CBA, and adopt authorisation/permitting decisions based on the positive outcome of CA and installation-level CBA. (page 69).

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