Evaluation of Different Efficiency Concepts of an Integrated Energy System (IES)

The Integrated Energy System (IES) market in the United States (US) and worldwide has been increasingly expanding over the last few years. But there is still a lot of disagreement in interpretation of one of the most important IES performance parameters – efficiency. Some organizations, for example, use higher heating value (HHV) of fuel in efficiency calculations while some use lower heating value (LHV). Some accounts for auxiliary and parasitic losses while others do not. Some adhere to the “first-law” of efficiency while some use other methods, i.e., calculations recommended by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or the US Combined Heat & Power Association. Different efficiency concepts based on actual performance testing from the IES Laboratory at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are evaluated in this paper. The equipment studied included: a 30-kW microturbine, an air-towater heat recovery unit (HRU), a 10-ton (35 kW) hot waterfired (indirect-fired) single-effect absorption chiller, and a direct-fired desiccant dehumidification unit. Efficiencies of different configurations of the above-mentioned equipment based on various approaches are compared. In addition, IES efficiency gains due to the replacement of a 1 st generation HRU (effectiveness of approximately 75%) with a 2 nd generation HRU (effectiveness of approximately 92%) for the same IES arrangement are discussed. The results showed that the difference in HHV- and LHV-based efficiencies for different IES arrangements could reach 5-8%, and that the difference in efficiency values calculated with different methods for the same arrangement could reach 27%. Therefore, it is very important to develop standard guidelines for efficiency calculations that would be acceptable and used by the majority of IES manufacturers and end-users. At the very least, every manufacturer or user should clearly indicate the basis for their efficiency calculations.