Distributed Generation: A Tool for Power Reliability and Quality

Regulated utilities, their unregulated subsidiaries, and independent companies are starting to use distributed generation in service offerings for enhanced power reliability and power quality.

Abstract

Distributed generation technologies are entering a changing North
American utility landscape that is being shaped on one side of the meter
by restructuring and on the other by increasing customer demand for
higher-quality, more reliable power . Whatever form restructuring takes,
it will likely provide opportunities for more companies, including end
users, to develop small-scale generation capabilities. If established utili-
ties can't deliver dependable, high-quality power, the growing number
of users that expect better service will either find different suppliers or
develop their own generation capabilities.
This changing situation is having two immediate impacts. On one
hand, some utilities, their unregulated offspring, and independent en-
ergy service providers are beginning to offer distributed generation
capabilities at energy users' sites. At the same time, a growing number
of energy users are starting to show a preference for generating their
own power to improve both power quality and power integrity.
Distributed generation can improve power quality and reliability
in several ways: it can serve as a second or redundant source of power;
it can isolate sensitive loads by letting them operate independently from
the grid; and it can minimize the impact of voltage sags. Overall grid
quality can also improve, because the impact on other energy users from
harmonics (generated by, say, a nearby industrial user) would be reduced.