A dynamic simulation model for the micro-cogeneration unit based on ICE (internal combustion engine) is built as a new component on TRNSYS. This model considers dynamic processes including start-up, cool-down, and overheat protection controls. Through an experiment study, the steady and dynamic performances of the unit are presented and analyzed for calibrating the parameters of the dynamic model. Then the model is validated by the experiment data during steady and dynamic processes. The improvement of prediction accuracy of the model by considering dynamic processes is analyzed. The validation results show that the dynamic model can well predict the characteristics of the unit during start-up, cool-down, and overheat protection control processes. The cumulative prediction errors of the dynamic model decrease with the increase of the start stop interval. By considering the dynamic processes, 5.18% and 3.2% of Qth and eta(total) cumulative prediction errors are decreased respectively when the start stop interval is 0.5 h. The primary energy saving ratio and CO2 emission reduction ratio increases with the increase of the start stop interval. The start stop interval for the unit in this paper should be longer than 0.5 h, or the energy consumption of micro-cogeneration unit would be larger than that of conventional system. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.