Environmental and economic assessment of a biomass-based cogeneration plant: Polish case study

The goal of the paper is to presents the results of the energy, economic and environmental assessment of biomassfired combined heat and power (BCHP) units cooperating with the district heating system. The mathematical models of both considered BCHP units (with back-pressure and extraction-condensing turbines) have been elaborated and validated with the data from commercially available CHP units. The results of this study prove that BCHP units can be a good option for the Polish energy sector, both from an environmental and energy point of view. The economic analysis showed that the analysed BCHP units could be profitable, but the are several factors, like prices of guarantees of origin for electricity producted from renewable energy sources, that strongly affect the results.