COGENERATION SYSTEMS FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES IN THE TERTIARY SECTOR
Cogeneration, Natural gas internal combustion engine, Absorption chiller, Supermarket, Distributed generation.
The technical, environmental and economic feasibility of cogeneration systems, based on natural gas internal combustion engines and absorption chillers was investigated. Projects that meet the growing demand for diversification of energy supply in Brazil are already well studied, but the alignment between the modern incentive and regulation laws with the technologies available in the market for application in supermarkets are not well understood. The objective of the study was divided into: development of a technical indicator (AT) and an economic indicator (VEO) for a general evaluation of cogeneration projects; application of an environmental indicator; mapping constraints and project requirements with respect to the legislation of qualified cogeneration and energy compensation; electrical and thermal load survey in a case study; modeling of the cogeneration plant to meet the case study; evaluation of the case study using the indicators developed. The results present the best combinations for the implementation of cogeneration systems, through a technical approach, using different absorption chiller models; and an environmental approach, with the emission of CO2 from these systems, compared to the emission of the Brazilian matrix. In the economic aspect, the results show the feasibility of implementing the model in a supermarket, together with the daily projection of energy billing and an investments analysis in three risk scenarios. The model proved to be technically feasible in all scenarios; being the first scenario, with the system running 14 hours a day, in the 2nd scenario, running 24 hours a day and in the 3rd scenario, with the model being aided by a thermal reservoir to accumulate thermal energy. The results of the technical indicator (TA) and the investment indicators (NPV, TIR and Payback) direct to the implementation of the cogeneration system in substitution of the purchase of electricity from the grid. However, the environmental indicator points out that the models are more polluting than the current alternative; and the negative VEO, but close to zero, recommends a greater attention of the managers so that they do not lose opportunities of generation of electricity instead of purchase in the grid.