Developing a software program to determine the optimal capacity rating of cogeneration and trigeneration plants driven by gas engines for unlicensed generation of electricity

Internal combustion engine based cogeneration and trigeneration plants are capable of producing several energy types from a single fuel input simultaneously, and an increase in the number of cogeneration and trigeneration plants especially in hotels, hospitals and industrial facilities day by day has strengthened the role of cogeneration and trigeneration plants in the study of energy efficiency and distributed generation. In addition to those, realization of license exemption for facilities want to produce electricity just for their energy demands by ensuring the condition of 80% total efficiency, low carbon emission of systems contain gas engines, rapid operation for synchronization and shortness of payback periods make cogeneration and trigeneration plants popular in recent years. In this thesis, fundamentals containing calculations, synchronization methods, actual legislation, and current status in Turkey of gas engine driven cogeneration and trigeneration plants have been investigated in detail, an investment payback period analysis for a University Hospital cogeneration and trigeneration plant has been performed as a case study, and a software program has been developed with proposing a methodology in order to determine the selection of the optimal capacity rating fulfilling unlicensed generation of electricity criteria of EMRA by providing maximum efficiency. With the designed software program, it is expected to prevent from unproductive plants due to inaccurate sizing and extra costs by contributing the national economy positively. Besides, the energy efficient conversion of natural gas into electricity, heating and cooling will be achieved by selecting optimal capacity of the cogeneration or trigeneration plant.