Opinion ID: 2265360
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Cogeneration Process

Text: The BZA credited evidence presented by Georgetown that the Cogeneration Facility would meet Georgetown's present and future energy demands and further the academic mission of the University. [14] Specifically, cogeneration technology simultaneously produces steam and electricity from a single energy source which can satisfy demands for steam, chilled water and electric power. The proposed plant has the capacity to generate fifty-six megawatts of electricity. The existing previously approved cogenerator has only a 2.8 megawatt capacity. Georgetown estimates that it will have peak loads of thirty-six and fifty-two megawatts respectively, in the years 2000 and 2010. Georgetown officials established that the University needed to expand its steam and chilled water capacity, using the steam for on-campus heating, air conditioning, hot water, cooking and sterilizing, followed by plant use for pumps and processing. The steam generated by the proposed facility provides the energy source for chilled water used in air conditioning. The BZA found that Georgetown has currently reached its chilled water capacity, and therefore has an immediate need for additional equipment in order to increase that capacity before any additional construction can take place on campus. All of the steam produced by cogeneration would be used to meet the University's present needs, but the proposed facility would initially generate a surplus of electricity over the University's present demands. The proposed Cogeneration Facility would not provide a direct source of electricity for the University because all electricity produced by cogeneration would be sold to PEPCO's grid. [15] In order to channel to the University buildings the electricity generated by the proposed facility, Georgetown would have to construct extensive duplicate switching and distribution facilities to provide a level of safety and reliability comparable with that presently provided by PEPCO. Additionally, the BZA found that even if the construction of the appropriate facilities were practical, the University would be forced to contract with PEPCO for back-up service in case of malfunction and for scheduled maintenance outages. The back-up contract with PEPCO would require PEPCO to hold the needed capacity in reserve within its system for University use. The cost of such back-up contract would add several hundred thousand dollars to the University's energy costs and the necessity of PEPCO to generate and maintain such reserves within its system would negate the environmental benefits which would result from cogeneration. BZA Finding No. 25. The BZA findings relate that for technical, economic and public interest reasons, the cogenerated electricity would be delivered to the PEPCO grid rather than being delivered directly to the Georgetown campus. PEPCO's distribution uses a radial system, and the Georgetown campus has eight feeders. The PEPCO system does not allow interconnection of the feeders. As a result, it is not feasible from a practical or financial perspective to directly deliver electricity generated from the proposed facility to the Georgetown campus. A plan utilized to move power from one utility company to another, called wheeling, could technically deliver the same power back to Georgetown. As explained at the BZA hearing, under the wheeling method where you have electricity somewhere and you want it delivered to a customer somewhere else and you don't have any right of eminent domain to build lines, so you make a contract with the utility company and they save some space on their transmission and, for a cost, they deliver your power. They don't deliver those same electrons or those same amperes. They measure how much you put into the system, they measure how much the customer took out, and you get what you put in and they charge you for the use of their facility. Georgetown established that if a line could be connected to the Georgetown substation, then the University could transmit the generated electricity into the substation and PEPCO could deliver this electricity back to Georgetown. A Georgetown official explained, however, that PEPCO, like most utility companies, does not have a provision for wheeling. Further credited testimony indicated that PEPCO and most utility companies are averse to wheeling which is generally utilized among utilities and across utility systems rather than utilized by private entities. For these reasons, the BZA accepted Georgetown's testimony that it is not technically, operationally or economically feasible to provide electricity directly from the proposed cogeneration facility to Georgetown. BZA Finding No. 25.