A design concept for Caltech

This article describes cogeneration at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). 800 KW of electricity is generated by a back-pressured steam turbine using high pressure steam from existing boilers. The exhaust steam is sent to the campus' 345 KPa (50PSIG) steam system. There are ongoing plans to generate the high pressure steam using the hot exhaust gases from a 4 MW gas turbine. Caltech has found the first phase (the back-pressured steam turbine) of their cogeneration project cost effective. This article discusses the economic concept and performance of this first phase and also discusses the anticipated economic performance of the second phase (the gas turbine). Caltech's cost effective cogeneration facility was designed to interface with a plant that has existed for thirteen years.