Abstract: Abstract:Direct and indirect benefits for a cogeneration power plant were defined in order to analyze the influence of heating on the cogeneration benefit. With the heatelectricity cost allocation method on the basis of heat capacity method, the benefits for the cogeneration power plant were calculated and analyzed. The results show that the heat and electricity benefits are not balanced; thus, electricity generation profits while heat supply incurred losses, and the absolute value of indirect heating benefit surpasses that of direct heating losses. It is also found that the indirect heating benefit increases with the heattoelectricity ratio and the incremental power utilization hours, but response little with fluctuating coal price.

Key words: Keywords:cogeneration, heating, benefit analysis, heat content method, heattoelectricity ratio