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About the Intermountain Combined Heat and Power Center
OVERVIEWThe Intermountain CHP Center was formed by the U.S. Department of Energy to promote greater adoption of combined heating, cooling and power (CHP) technologies in the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The Intermountain CHP Center is run jointly by three organizations:
The Intermountain CHP Center is one of several regional centers recently launched and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to address regional-specific and state-specific CHP issues. It is modeled after the successful Midwest CHP Application Center. Initial funding for the Intermountain CHP Center has been provided by the U.S. Department of Energy through a grant to the Wyoming Business Council, and the Center has also received support from U.S. DOE’s Denver support office. Utah Power/PacifiCorp and Questar Gas are funding partners, and the state energy offices are providing program and project support. We also work closely with the US Environmental Protection Agency CHP Partnership. We work in the areas of project support and facilitation, education and outreach, market assessment, policy review, and coalition building. Below is the scope of the center’s mission.
PROJECT SUPPORT AND FACILITATIONThe Intermountain CHP Center provides end users with free technical, economic, and feasibility screenings to help determine CHP project viability. In addition, the Center advises end users as they proceed with project development and provides third-party review of vendor proposals. The Center does not provide funding for equipment, but it will advise end users on any grants or incentives available from their state, utility, or other entity.
EDUCATION AND OUTREACHThe Intermountain CHP Center is developing case studies, fact sheets, technology briefs, project screening tools, sector-by-sector information, and other resources that help educate end users, design firms, utilities, and regulators. The Center also makes presentations and organizes workshops and seminars, often for particular market sectors that have a high potential for cost-effective CHP. The Center’s web site (www.intermountainCHP.org) is helping to disseminate information. MARKET ASSESSMENTThe Intermountain CHP Center is tracking CHP system adoption and capacity in each of its states, as well as analyzing CHP market potential. The Center is also identifying regulatory, economic and technical barriers to CHP adoption state-by-state. The Center also assesses which market sectors in the region have the highest economic viability for CHP. In particular, renewable CHP at agricultural operations, wastewater treatment plants, food & beverage processing, and landfills all factor highly into our education and outreach efforts. Universities and district energy systems also have high potential in the Intermountain region. POLICY REVIEWThe Intermountain CHP Center interacts regularly with key investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities, and rural electric cooperatives in the region and encourages these utilities to promote CHP among their customers, adopt CHP-friendly tariff and interconnection policies, and incorporate CHP into their resource plans. The Center also works directly with regulators and policymakers to educate them on effective CHP policy, barriers, and solutions to barriers, intervenes in regulatory proceedings where appropriate. INTERMOUNTAIN CHP INITIATIVEThe Intermountain CHP Initiative is a network of partners and stakeholders that work closely with the Center to increase the adoption of clean, energy-efficient CHP in the Intermountain region. The Intermountain CHP Initiative holds monthly one-hour conference calls, hosts educational webcasts, maintains a speakers bureau, maintains an online CHP vendor and supplier guide (www.CHPbuyersguide.net), advises the Center, and participates in efforts to reduce marketplace or governmental barriers to CHP. All regional or national stakeholders are invited to join the Intermountain CHP Initiative. See the Intermountain CHP Initiative web page for further information.
DOWNLOADABLE PDF ABOUT THE CENTERThe information on this page is available as a 2-page downloadable PDF, “Intermountain CHP Center Overview and Activities.” |
© 2004-2008 Intermountain CHP Center
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