Energy Processing and Smart Grid

CHAPTER 9RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES

9.1 INTRODUCTION

An increasing demand for electric power in the twenty-first century and the need for more environmentally benign electric power systems are of critical concern to governments and stakeholders such as industries and end users. Electrical shortages, power quality, rotating outages, and increasing oil prices have motivated many utilities and consumers to look for alternative forms of highly reliable energy. Traditional utility ties have been deregulated, yielding room for new market structures and players. Regulatory commissions in different parts of the world have unbundled the vertical utility industry into separate business units that can be categorized into three broad categories: generation companies, which include utility and nonutility companies; transmission companies, which may be under state ownership; and distribution companies, which are privately owned business units.

9.2 DISTRIBUTED GENERATION CONCEPTS

Distributed generation (DG) is a relatively new approach to describe the new wave of generation at the customer side, which is less than that of the typical control power station in a competitive electricity market. DG has been given a variety of definitions relative to its rating, power delivery area, environmental impact, penetration level, and point of connection. Although these criteria are necessary, they are not sufficient. We provide here a practical definition for DG as “an electric power source connected ...