Distributed co-generation plants as balancing energy supply

Abstract: Sustainability in future electricity generation requires the optimisation of the triangle of energy demand, environmental aspects and cost. In Germany, balancing energy is unavoidable due to powerful wind power plants and the so called renewable energy law. This paper discusses balancing energy sup-plied by small and decentralized co-generation plants considering technical, economical and ecological aspects. Altogether, co-generation plants seem to be promising as balancing energy supply. Key-Words: co-generation, balancing power, balancing energy, wind power plants, heat deman