STANDBY D ISTRIBUTED G ENERATION: ENGINE-SIDE I SSUES AND SOLUTIONS

Abstract

Significant attention has been given to energy supply and prices
during the past year. The volatility in reliability and pricing of electrical
energy, particularly in markets such as California, has prompted many
companies to take a renewed interest in their energy supply, energy
costs, and consumption patterns. More recently, the economic environ-
ment has many businesses scrambling to cut costs to preserve profitabil-
ity in a soft market. One of the strategies for gaining better control of
power reliability and energy costs is to utilize on-site or distributed gen-
eration (DG).
While the media currently favors coverage of emerging commer-
cialized versions of distributed generation technologies such as fuel cells
and micro-turbines, one generation resource that is often readily dis-
missed is standby generation. Standby generation is most often in the
form of diesel reciprocating, engine-driven generation used for power in
the event of a utility outage. Given the extensive installed base of
standby generation, there is a clear opportunity for energy cost savings.