Mannheim, May 16, 2025
Whatever the reasons might be, severe fluctuations in public power grids can lead to short-term outages or even longer-lasting blackouts, causing major challenges. CHP plants and microgrids can be deployed in island mode to ensure the energy supply of industrial companies, facilities, and households.
Decentralized Energy Solutions for Independent Power and Heat Generation
In late April, both Spain and Portugal were affected by a nationwide power outage. Within just five seconds, the Spanish power grid lost 15 GW, a figure that corresponds to about 60 percent of the national energy demand. The exact reasons for the sudden power outage are still being investigated.
To protect themselves against blackouts and financial losses due to outage-related production losses, industrial companies and larger facilities such as universities or hospitals can benefit from various energy solutions. For example, this includes combined heat and power plants for independent heat and power generation as well as microgrids in island mode.
Gas Engine-Powered CHP Systems to Maximize Energy Security
For their operations, industrial companies with continuous production processes, critical care facilities, and smaller companies alike depend on stable, uninterrupted power supply. Gas engine-driven CHP systems for distributed energy generation produce heat and power concurrently and can be operated with numerous types of gas, such as natural gas, biogas, landfill gas, sewage gas, mine gas, and hydrogen admixtures.
Due to their better utilization of primary energy, CHP plants are much more efficient than conventional power plants with separate heat and power generation. While conventional power plants achieve overall efficiencies of 35 to 40 percent, CHP plants reach an overall efficiency of up to 90 percent. In combined heat and power generation, the exhaust heat from the engines is not lost and can be used e.g. for heating purposes and other production processes.
Moreover, companies with CHP plants that operate in island mode are protected against outages of the public power grid. CHP plants in island mode can continue to run autonomously even in the event of a public grid failure and supply industrial companies and facilities with heat and power without any interruptions.
Especially critical care facilities such as hospitals or industrial companies with production processes that must not be disrupted benefit from CHP plants that produce energy in island mode. Uninterrupted power supply is crucial for hospitals and other medical care facilities. In the event of a large-scale blackout or disruptions in the public grid, a CHP plant in island mode upholds the infrastructure of system-critical facilities and prevents a collapse of medical care.
Energy generation with a gas engine-driven CHP plant is an ideal solution for remote industrial companies and towns, as it reliably generates as much energy as needed directly on site. On the Spanish island of Mallorca, for example, two MWM gas engines generate heat and power for the Mallorca Environmental Technology Park using combined heat and power generation. The excess power that is not required for the premises is fed into the local power grid and contributes to the island’s energy supply.
Island-Mode Microgrids and IPP as a Reliable Solution
Microgrids are small, local power grids that produce electricity for delimited areas and are operated independently of each other. Microgrids can either be connected to the main power grid or be operated independently in island mode. Such microgrids can consist of gas engine-driven CHP plants, battery storage systems, solar systems, wind turbines, or fuel cells as energy sources. The advantage of microgrids is that they can be operated both parallel to the grid, i.e. connected to the public grid, and in island mode, i.e. independent of the public grid. In island mode, microgrids supply power in the event of a public grid outage, ensuring uninterrupted energy supply of industrial companies and households. Microgrids are a reliable solution especially for remote regions that have limited access to the public grid or that are prone to extreme weather conditions that can cause outages.
Independent power producers (IPP) that are capable of island-mode operation can also provide security against power outages in the public grid. For this, a number of technical and contractual requirements must be met, e.g. a reliable technical infrastructure designed for island-mode operation, a storage system, the operation of a microgrid, backup generators, and a clear contractual arrangement for the energy supply.
Increase Your Energy Efficiency and Reduce Costs
Due to its high efficiency, reliability, and performance, combined heat and power generation plays an important role in securing the energy supply. Around the globe, CHP plants by Caterpillar Energy Solutions with MWM gas engines are deployed in numerous distributed heat and power generation applications. Thanks to distributed generation, plant operators are not only independent of external power suppliers and rising energy prices, they also increase the security of supply for their operations.