Environmental outturns of cogeneration installation at industrial and service sectors in Malaysia

Cogeneration has a substantial positive consequence on energy use, fuel switching measures and environmental emissions. This paper provides a quantitative appraisal of the environmental benefits of installing grid-connected gas-fired cogeneration in some segments of the industrial and service sectors in peninsular Malaysia. A mathematical programming technique, integrated with a developed financial analysis tool, is used to optimally design the cogeneration system size and its configuration. The impact of cogeneration on energy savings of various categories in industrial and service sectors is evaluated. The amount of CO₂ corresponding to the energy saved was eventually quantified. Results show that grid-connected natural gas-fired cogeneration produces tangible environmental outturns and can effectively contribute to the Malaysian government target of achieving a low-carbon economy.