Mid-Atlantic CHP Application Center

This page is designed to provide background information on CHP activity in New Jersey.

Summary of Activity
Installed CHP Capacity
Potential Market for CHP
Electricity Pricing
Natural Gas Pricing
State Restructuring Activities
State Agency Contacts
Electric Utilities Websites
CHP Requirements & State Support Programs Links

Summary of Activity
A significant percentage of the electrical generation in New Jersey takes advantage of its waste heat, at 20.5% of total generating capacity this is below the 8% national average in 2003. 20% of this capacity is in the industrial sector, 1.3% is found in the commercial market. Electrical prices are below the national average and have gradually fallen over the last 10 years. Natural gas has experienced price fluctuations along with the all other states in the region and seen prices climb 21.1% over the last 12 years. There has been quite a lot of CHP and distributed energy activity in the state to this point. There remains 16651MW of CHP potential within the state, the bulk of it within the industrial sector.

Installed CHP Capacity
Currently, New Jersey 's CHP market generates 20.5% of its total energy market, amounting to a capacity of 16,651MW. This energy is primarily generated through 179 major CHP facilities. Commercial attributions account for 222.7MW of the total market through the use of 116 different facilities. The remainder is attributed to industrial and other uncategorized sectors, having 60 facilities producing 3,196MW and 3 facilities producing 1.8MW, respectively.

Potential Market for CHP
Since 1990, New Jersey 's commercial electrical costs have overall followed an increasing trend regardless of the dramatic drop in 1997. Commercial consumers costs have spanned payments from $0.0904 per kWh in 1990 to 9.18cents/kWh in 2000 ($/MBtu = .3413kWh). This is above the 2000 national average of $0.0736 per kWh.

Electricity Pricing
Since 1990, New Jersey 's commercial electrical costs have overall followed an increasing trend regardless of the dramatic drop in 1997. Commercial consumers costs have spanned payments from $0.0904 per kWh in 1990 to 9.18cents/kWh in 2000 ($/MBtu = .3413kWh). This is above the 2000 national average of $0.0736 per kWh.

Natural Gas Pricing
When evaluating CHP, a considerable amount of attention needs to be placed on the price of natural gas. Natural gas prices in the state of New Jersey have very slightly increased over the past few years. Compared to the national average of $6.57/kft 3 in 2002, New Jersey 's prices are slightly below average having a price of $6.31/kft 3 that year.

The combination of falling electric prices and climbing prices for natural gas make the "spark spread" between the cost of electrical and fuel energy smaller which tightens the profitability of CHP technology but there are still going to be successful applications for the appropriate use of CHP. Issues with the reliability of power in light of both the tropical storm and grid power disruptions to the north will motivate users to explore DG options. In the case where DG is already being installed, waste heat recovery is likely to decrease the operating cost of the installation. DG remains distinct from emergency backup generators, which are typically not permitted to operate continuously due to the emissions permit that they are issued with.

Links to more detailed energy price data:
EIA's Natural Gas Navigator
EIA's State Energy Prices

State Restructuring Activities

New Jersey utility companies have been employed under a deregulated electricity market since August 2000. To this present day, over 2% of New Jersey 's consumers have chosen an alternate supplier representing 358MW, about .07% of the state's total load.

Links:
Summary of Restructuring by Mid-Atlantic Energy Coalition
Status of State Electric Industry Restructuring from DOE EIA

State Agency Contacts:

New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
New Jersey Air Quality Regulations

State Agency Contacts:

DC Public Service Commission

DC Bureau of Environmental Quality

State Incentives for CHP
New Jersey offers funding can be used to enhance the financial viability of CHP projects. The current status of these programs is available at the New Jersey Clean Energy Program website or on the Board of Public Utilities’ Office of Clean Energy website.