Small is good - or is it?
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Let's say your proud friend is showing you around his new custom-built home. In the back yard you see the object shown here. It's none of those. Your friend explains that it's a fuel cell, which supplies his home with all the heat, hot water and electricity it needs. More than it needs, in fact: his household is also selling surplus power to neighboring homes, which helps reduce the operating costs of the unit. |
No, this is not a vision of the future culled from a 40-year-old copy of Popular Mechanics. It is here and now. Your friend is an early adopter of Distributed Generation, which could change the way power is generated, distributed and used in the same way that Distributed Computing challenged mainframe-based systems two decades ago.
Distributed Generation - friend or foe
Over the last five years many established technologies have been adapted to small-demand generation. Typically, the resulting product delivers less than 10 megawatts, is aimed at the needs of specific users, and offers a clear economic advantage over traditional sources of power. Developers of DG systems can choose between four distinct types of fuel cell, micro turbines, aero-derivative small gas turbines, new generations of reciprocating engines, and solar, wind and photovoltaic technologies. The Plug Power unit shown here is a commercial reality, manufactured and marketed by a subsidiary of GE; so are jet engine-driven systems which can produce all the power needed by an office building or shopping mall.
Distributed Generation is creating both confusion and excitement. Confusion because there are so many manufacturers making competing claims, with little in the way of track records to set the winners apart from the losers. Excitement because, though it is difficult to make accurate cost comparisons, DG appears to provide better answers to the challenges of efficiency and environmental performance than many other choices available to the power sector.
Investment Choices
But - if you look at DG as just another way of delivering power to consumers, then it can be used effectively by generation, transmission and distribution companies to improve the quality of electricity supply or to meet electricity needs. It will fit in the same tool box as conservation, load shifting, load shaving, load management, self-generation and other more familiar techniques for improving system performance. The customer doesn't need to know whether the power that drives his TV set comes from a distant dam, a nuclear plant or a black box in his basement. If the supply is reliable and the price is right, then his needs are being met.Acres estimates that within ten years as much as 50 percent of new electricity supply in some jurisdictions will be coming from generating plants of less than 10 megawatts. Today's major players in the power sector could benefit from this trend. It would take some critical revaluation of their present business strategies, but the end result could well be better quality service, competitively priced.
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If you would like a copy of a Powerpoint presentation on Distributed Generation by George Davies, which elaborates on the themes in this article, or you'd like to talk to Mr. Davies, contact him at: Tel: 416-542-5812; Fax: 416-542-5801; email: gdavies@acres.com. His address is: Acres Management Consulting Limited, 439 University Avenue, Suite 1700, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5G 1Y5. |
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Dr. Satish Bhan heads up the group within Acres that is focussing on emerging 'Small Energy Generation' technology. You can contact him at: Tel: 905-469-3405; Fax: 905-469-3404; email: sbhan@acres.com |
Visit us at www.acres.com.