Fuel Cells for Dispersed Generation

Abstract

New te chn ologies a re going to h ave a significa nt im pa ct on th e
elect ric utilit y in du s tr y in th e coming yea rs. Suc cessful comme rc ial -
iz ati on of a dva nce d pow er s upply te chn ologies will u sh er in " dis -
p er sed gene ra ti on" or DG as an alt ern ati ve t o th e conve nt io na l cen -
tral st ation power plant s that now dominat e th e electr ic utilit y indu s-
try.
A DG pow er su pply ex pa ns ion str at egy will allow sit ing of man y
small er gene ra ting unit s close to th e load. In f act , th ese rem ot ely
di spatch ed, unmann ed gene r ati n g unit s will probably be loc at ed ri ght
at the subs ta tion an d look mor e lik e subs ta tion equ ipme n t than ge n -
er ati ng facil iti es .
Th e ability t o si te sma ll-scale DG unit s close to th e cus to me r c an
impr ove th e reli ab ilit y of deli v er ed se rvice an d pr om ises new o pt ions
for m ana gin g indu st r ial a nd comme rcial load s thr ough t ail or ed en-
ergy se rv ices . Th ese will be impor ta nt fact ors for rur al elect ric sys -
tem s , es pe cially th ose th at are experiencing load grow t h at th e en d of
lon g feed er s, or th ose tr yin g to a tt ra ct new c omm er cial or indu stri al
load s with specia l pow er q ua lit y needs