|Figure 1. CHP versus separate heat and power generation| While
no ‘silver bullet’, cogeneration could play an important role in
helping Europe to balance its power grids and accommodate larger
amounts of intermittent renewable generation. Leon Sijbers
discusses the situation at electricity system, micro-grid and
domestic levels. Energy is the life blood of our society. The
well-being of our people, industry and economy depends on safe,
secure, sustainable and affordable energy. At the same time,
energy related emissions account for almost 80% of the European
Union’s total greenhouse gas emissions. So we are faced with the
challenge of lowering the industry’s carbon dioxide footprint
over the same period that we expect energy demand to increase
significantly. We will need a smarter grid to modernize and
optimize how we generate, move and consume energy. In this
article I would like to analyze how new and different forms of
generation – especially renewable, decentralized generation
enabled by the smart grid –