The presence of a district energy system in a city environment can act as a valuable catalyst for development. If plant economies plus distribution costs are competitive, the efficiencies and operating economies inherent in a central plant can be shared with the customer.

In many cases combined heat and power ("CHP") can add to the central plant's strategic value. A CHP unit can "distribute" electric power to customers contiguous to the system that may require such power for "peak shaving," for security, or other reasons. The waste heat from the power plant is used to replace or supplement the steam generated by the conventional boilers.

These CHP units, can be combined with equipment such as steam driven chillers, ice or energy storage, to eliminate or reduce, "shave," the system's "peak" demand. These CHP district energy systems are referred to as integrated distributed energy ("IDE") systems.