IEC was selected to assist SMUD in estimating the Combined Cooling, Heating, and Power (CCHP) market potential using waste, biogas, and biomass in SMUD’s service territory and balancing authority to achieve energy efficiency and GHG emission benefits.

IEC began with a review of data and reports regarding existing CCHP facilities and waste resources, and then identified additional prospective CCHP candidates and any new waste resources. Surveys of identified candidates were then conducted to determine host potential and collect the data necessary to provide an appropriate analysis of the generation potential of these facilities for SMUD.

In parallel, IEC evaluated over a dozen commercially available and emerging waste-to-energy CCHP technologies to determine the best fit for the identified waste streams and prospective hosts. After compiling and organizing the data, IEC analyzed the information and quantified the gross generation potentials (in MW and MWh) and the technical potential for development.

Taking into account waste availability and other relevant data, IEC then used our financial model to calculate the economic potential for each technology identified and estimated the cumulative market penetration potential of CCHP using waste resources as a function of current and future energy prices, electric and thermal load of the target markets, and SMUD’s Feed-In Tariff Program. IEC also estimated the avoided GHG and NOx emissions versus the current projected levels for 2010 and 2020.