The Role of Distributed Generation in Power Quality and Reliability
The nature of business and power consumption has changed considerably over the last two decades. Facilities of all kinds now make widespread use of sensitive electronic components, computers and programmable logic controllers. There is also a growing need for reliable and continuous communications with customers, suppliers, and financial institutions. Many businesses suffer economic losses when electric power interruptions occur or even when there are voltage or current abnormalities present in the power delivery. While the performance of the U.S. and New York electric utility industries is extremely good, even this level of performance is not sufficient to protect customers with highly sensitive loads from economic losses. These customers must invest in on-site equipment to ensure higher levels of reliability and power quality than is delivered from the electric grid. This report explores the power quality sensitivity of the power market in New York and examines the value of integrating distributed generation into an overall customer power quality and reliability solution. The basic premise for this study is that distributed generation can be used to support customer’s power quality and reliability needs and by so doing the value of distributed generation is increased.