What is combined heat and power - and how does it relate to my facility? Waste Heat Capture (known as Combined Cooling, Heat and Power CHP) provides free power for ancillary processes such as Heating and Cooling, Dehumidification, and Generation of “New Water”. These processes also result in improved sustainability, Lower Water Usage and Full Recapture and Sequestration of CO2 for use in the grow environments.
Let's say you have a grow facility of 25,000 square feet and you are using about 1.0 + MW of Power (including AC) and your lighting is HPS, requiring 200‐300 Tons of AC. With about ~5,000 Gallons of Water use per day, with estimated electricity costs of $55 – 60K / month, plus operating costs. Using these metrics, if you install a CHP system, the impact can be about 40% less for operating costs of your typical HVAC system installed on site, although the upfront costs can be twice as much.
Here is the Impact:
For lighting and ventilation you will eliminate the cost of 4,500 Amps of Electrical Service, and achieve a Yearly Operating Savings of $200,000+. You will use 300 Tons of Chillers vs AC and save between $60k - 100K depending on whether you go with absorptive or natural gas chillers. And for your Industrial Air handlers and Dehumidification you will achieve an annual savings ~ $60,000. And to show your customers you are sustainable, you can market the fact that you will eliminate over 900 tons of CO2 generated annually versus using a coal fired electrical power. And if your grow facility is using CO2, you will capture and use over 125 tons of CO2 on site. For facilities where water is sold at a premium, CHP can also deliver high quality water from municipality or well water, at about ~1500 Gallons of Water per day Recaptured or “Generated”
Please contact us here at Zam Energy so we can prepare an estimate of your capital and operating costs and show you the return on investment with multiple monetization options.