Current Status

This market has invested heavily in CHP. There are approximately 570 petrochemical and refining CHP sites in the nation.2 Twenty-four percent of them, or 136 sites, are in our region.1 The first installation in our Gulf Coast area was the Norit Americas Marshall, Texas Plant in 1921.1 Approximately 60% of all regional installations are petrochemical and refining sites.

For an updated listing of CHP sites, go to Combined Heat and Power Installation Database.

Nationwide, petrochemical and refining CHP capacity is estimated at more than 36,400 MW.2 This number represents 45% of the total national CHP capacity.2 As the chart below shows, Chemicals is the single biggest sector, followed by paper, combined commercial/institutional, and then refining.


Contrast this national figure with that of our Gulf Coast region shown in the chart below. Here, the chemicals and refining slices are the two biggest sectors. Together, they represent 88% of the total regional CHP capacity (20,560 MW).2 This percentage is nearly twice the national percentage. More specifically, capacity for Chemicals is 15,420 MW and for Petroleum refining, it is 5140 MW.2


Clearly, the Chemicals and Refining industries dominate our regional CHP capacity. And, this trend is expected to continue. (See Future Potential for more on this topic)

In this market, national CHP capacity is represented by larger system sizes. Systems greater than 50 MW make up 88% of the national capacity (see table below).


Note: Combined capacity listed here (23,310 MW) is smaller than that reported above (36,400 MW). Figures were published in 2000 and 2005, respectively. The lack of consistency results from an increase in capacity between publication dates, and from a more comprehensive database.4 Nonetheless, large CHP system sizes continue to dominate current petrochemical capacity.

• Most systems are natural gas fired, with fewer fired by coal, waste and other fuels.
• Prime movers are steam boilers; combustion turbines, and combined cycle systems. Significantly fewer sites have CHP reciprocating engines or other equipment.
• 62% of the sites sell excess capacity to the utilities
• Two-thirds of the sites are self-owned; the other third has third-party ownership.

This national profile is similar to the one in our region (see below).

• Large capacity systems (>100 MW) dominate regional CHP capacity.
• Systems are fueled primarily by natural gas; but oil, coal, waste and other fuels are also used.
• Prime movers are combined cycle turbines, gas turbines, and boiler/steam turbines. Reciprocating engines are also common, but they provide much lower capacity/unit.
• More than half of the sites sell excess power to the utilities.

Select Case Studies, to see how others in this market have implemented CHP.