UTILITY POWER VS. ONSITE COGENERATION Utility power stations have traditionally provided dependable and cost effective power. However, as populations shift, as businesses require suppliers of all products and services to innovate more rapidly and pass along efficiencies, and as environmental issues become more pressing, centralized utilities have had great difficulty meeting customer expectations. Onsite cogeneration works on top of the existing utility grid to meet customer demands in a significantly more flexible, economical, and environmentally-friendly manner. HOW COGENERATION WORKS Cogeneration, also known as combined heat and power (CHP), is the production of two or more forms of energy from a single fuel source. In the case of Hess Microgen units, electricity, heating and/or chilling are the energy products produced from a single fuel source such as natural gas. Since both the electricity and thermal energy are applied to meeting a facility's energy requirements, efficiencies far in excess of utility-provided power can be obtained, making cogeneration a more efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly source of power.