DISTRIBUTED GENERATION SYSTEMS

DISTRIBUTED GENERATION SYSTEMS

Distributed Generation (DG) also called site generation, dispersed generation, embedded generation, decentralized generation, decentralized energy, or distributed energy, generates electricity from many small energy sources. In recent years, micro electric power systems such as photovoltaic generation systems, wind generators, micro gas turbines, etc., have increased with the deregulation and liberalization of the power market. Under such circumstances, the environment surrounding the electric power industry has become ever more complicated and provides high-quality power in a stable manner which becomes an important topic. Here DG is assumed to include Wind power Generation (WG) Fuel Cells (FC), etc.

Wind energy is the world‘s fastest-growing energy technology. It is a clean energy source that is reliable, and efficient and reduces the cost of energy for homeowners, farmers, and businesses. Wind turbines can be used to produce electricity for a single home or building, or they can be connected to an electricity grid for more widespread electricity distribution. They can even be combined with other renewable energy technologies. For utility-scale sources of wind energy, a large number of turbines are usually built close together to form a wind farm. Several electricity providers today use wind farms to supply power to their customers.

Fuel cell systems have high energy efficiency. The efficiency of low-temperature proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells is around 35-45%. High-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) can have an efficiency as high as 65%. The overall efficiency of a SOFC-based combined-cycle system can even reach 70%. Renewable energy and fuel cell systems are environmentally friendly. From these systems, there is zero or low emission (of pollutant gases) that causes acid rain, urban smog, and other health problems; and, therefore, there is no environmental cleanup or waste disposal cost associated with them.

Benefits of Decentralized Generation

 Decentralized generations are small and offer numerous benefits in comparison to conventional centralized systems. A few of its benefits are discussed as follows:

  • No high peak load shortages –Distributed generation systems can reduce peak demand and offer an effective solution to the problem of high peak load shortages.
  • Reduced high transmission and distribution losses – It can greatly reduce the losses during transmission and distribution of power from a central location and hence improve the reliability of the grid network. In India, the current losses amount to about 35% of the total available energy.
  • Linking remote and inaccessible areas – Distributed generation can play a major role in providing power to remote and inaccessible areas. For a country like India, it offers a solution for rural electrification.
  • Faster response to new power demands – The micro-grid systems are small-scale and often require lower gestation periods, which enables faster and easy capacity additions when required.
  • Improved supply reliability and power management – With independence from utility grid systems, distributed generation systems offer easy maintenance of power, voltage, and frequency. It also offers the possibility of combining energy storage and management systems, with reduced congestion.

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