part 1: overview of cogeneration and its status in asia - Fire

98 Part3: Summary of country studies – Bangladesh and Viet
financiers, and consultants who better interact to assure the success of cogeneration
development;
3. potential donor countries and motivate them in launching more substantial cogenerationrelated
bilateral projects.
1.2 Guidelines for the Country Studies
Based on the assumption that these cogeneration studies were first of their kinds in the
respective countries and the time available for completing the study was limited to three
months, simple guidelines were prepared to cover the following:
1. overview of present energy situation, policies and strategies in the country;
2. preliminary assessment of the potential for cogeneration;
3. pre-feasibility studies of some identified sites with promising cogeneration potential to
evaluate the economic (financial) and environmental benefits;
4. conclusion and recommendations for follow-up actions.
1.2.1 Overview of energy situation, policies and strategies in the country
The basic requirement before going deeper into cogeneration study is to first have a clear
perspective of the overall energy situation in the country. This includes understanding of the
historical evolution of the energy sector, and the status as well as future prospects for
electricity demand and supply. Other notable aspects are the share of energy use in the
industrial and commercial sectors, the status of industrial growth, and forecasts of energy
use in line with the target overall economic development.
A major factor determining the financial viability of cogeneration projects is the prevailing
costs of fuel and electricity. Therefore a good understanding of the energy pricing
mechanism and any price distortions such as taxation and cross-subsidization is important
for making realistic assumptions of the input parameters of the pre-feasibility studies.
Equally important is the need to grasp the various government policies and strategies being
formulated for encouraging private sector involvement in power generation in various forms.
Based on the ground reality, a critical analysis of strengths and weaknesses of these
initiatives is desirable.
1.2.2 Preliminary assessment of the potential for cogeneration
An evaluation of the existing cogeneration facilities helps in quantifying the share of
cogeneration in the total power supply, and identifying the sectors where cogeneration has
already been well accepted. Also, information gathered from the sites and discussion with
cogenerators help to assess aspects such as the technological status, operation and
management practices, economic and financial benefits, constraints and drawbacks in
operating such facilities, etc.
Preliminary assessment includes identification of industrial and commercial sectors which
offer cogeneration potential, based on the various technical criteria such as heat-to-power
ratio, quality of thermal energy requirements, typical demand patterns of the different forms of
energy at the site, availability of fuels, level of system reliability needed, etc.
Once the industrial and commercial sectors offering good potential for cogeneration are
identified, the technical potential for cogeneration can be established on selected sample
sites using a standard questionnaire of the type given in Appendix 1.A.