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« on: April 20, 2017, 11:24:25 PM »
A key difference of a district energy system is that it delivers thermal energy to a number of
interconnected facilities, in the form of hot water, steam or chilled water. District energy systems may be
limited to thermal distribution only or may be designed to co-generate electricity with the waste heat from
combustion. Co-gen plants are anchored by boiler plants, engines or steam turbines that can be fueled by
natural gas, biomass (particularly in the pulp and paper industry), diesel fuel, and municipal solid waste.
Both district energy co-gen systems and microgrids have a macrogrid interconnection for supplemental or
emergency power and two-way interaction with the macrogrid. In contrast, a microgrid is designed to
distribute electrical energy over a defined network, incorporate various energy sources, interact with the
macrogrid on a real-time basis, or isolate itself and operate in an islanded mode, when required.