CHP Efficiency Calculator
Reviewed by Hamza Gujjar, Algorithm Architect & Software Developer
Last updated: July 27, 2026Capturing what standard power plants throw away
Standard electricity generation rejects most of its input energy as waste heat, typically achieving only 30-45% electrical efficiency. Combined heat and power (CHP) systems instead capture that "waste" heat for useful purposes like space heating or industrial process heat.
Worked example
For a CHP system producing 300kW of electricity and 450kW of useful heat from 1000kW of fuel input:
Overall Efficiency = (300 + 450) / 1000 x 100 = 75.0% overall CHP efficiency
Notice the electrical-only efficiency here is just 30% - a typical standalone power plant figure - but capturing the additional heat output pushes overall useful energy efficiency to 75%, demonstrating why CHP is favored wherever there is a genuine, steady demand for both electricity and heat on-site.