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Replacing older oil-fired technology at the site, the gas turbines will increase the plant's efficiency and reduce its environmental impact in line with the Portuguese government's regulation to promote efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions (Fig.1). Approved in January 2010 and in support of the European Union cogeneration directive, a new Portuguese law will regulate cogeneration on a national level.

A report launched today highlights critical challenges in the current ‘all-electric’ approach to decarbonisation of the UK energy system as this would increase our dependence on the electricity system to unprecedented levels. A system that makes greater use of cogeneration and district heating can however mitigate many of the more demanding aspects of the ‘all-electric’ approach. Used in combination with biomass and CCS technology for fossil fuels, cogeneration and district heating infrastructure have a key role to play up to 2050 and beyond. Find the full report  and the press release here.

Future plans for energy production in the European Union as well as other locations call for a high penetration of renewable technologies (20% by 2020, and higher after 2020). The remaining energy requirements will be met by fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Smaller, less-capital intensive nuclear reactors are emerging as an alternative to fossil fuel and large nuclear systems. Approximately 50 small (<300 MWe) to medium-sized (<700 MWe) reactors (SMRs) concepts are being pursued for use in electricity and cogeneration (combined heat and power) markets. However, many of the SMRs are at the early design stage and full data needed for economic analysis or market assessment is not yet available. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop “target cost” estimates for reactors deployed in a range of competitive market situations (electricity prices ranging from 45–150 €/MWh). Parametric analysis was used to develop a cost breakdown for reactors that can compete against future natural gas and coal (with/without carbon capture) and large nuclear systems. Sensitivity analysis was performed to understand the impacts on competitiveness from key cost variables. This study suggests that SMRs may effectively compete in future electricity markets if their capital costs are controlled, favorable financing is obtained, and reactor capacity factors match those of current light water reactors. This methodology can be extended to cogeneration markets supporting a range of process heat applications.

Since heavy industry processes create heat as a byproduct, this has led to real incentives for Finland’s paper mills to also become electric utilities, through capturing the heat in their process, and selling the power, for income on the side. Finland leads the world in the use of combined heat & power (CHP) systems, which have been widely used there since the 1960s.