Analysis of Small Scale Decentralized Cogeneration in Southern Italy

During the last decade, small-scale combined heatand power systems have become a viable alternativeto conventional power supply and boiler-basedheating system in many types of applications. Inorder to evaluate the energetic, environmental andeconomic feasibility of domestic cogeneration inItaly, an analysis of energy demand profiles of a 120m2 house has been performed and a simulation,based on a spreadsheet, of a microcogenerationsystem based on a 6 kWel gas fired internalcombustion engine has been developed. In order toidentify the right application for cogeneration in thedomestic sector, an energetic, economic andenvironmental analysis has been performed varyingsome parameters, such as number of dwellings,operating mode and reference systems. Theintroduction of microcogeneration system allowsprimary energy savings ranging between 6% and13%, avoided emissions of CO2 between 8 and 18%and a payback-period lower than 5 years startingfrom 8 dwellings.