A small or even mini CHP unit fits in every home – left with 5.5 kW, right with 50 to 120 kW of electrical output. However, a continuously high heat requirement is a prerequisite for its economic viability.
In industry, commerce, swimming pools and hotels, highly efficient CHP plants based on natural gas have already proved themselves over many years as an energy saving technology in the large and medium output range. Small devices on the other hand – so-called mini or micro CHP units – are still in the development or market introduction phases. The decentralised, combined generation of electricity and heat offers considerable potential for single- and double-family houses – for saving energy and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Micro CHP heating units are therefore considered to be a successor technology for modern gas-fired condensing boiler heating systems, which currently represent the ‘state of the art’ in combination with solar thermal.
