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Distributed Generation & Microgrids

Tapping Distributed Energy Resources

Voltage Regulation: Reactive power is the key to an efficient and reliable grid.

Last year’s blackout was driven, in part, by uncontrolled voltage oscillations, capping several years of voltage collapses among utilities. Are reactive power delivery and dynamic reactive power reserves part of the solution?
Byline: 

John D. Kueck et al.

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Energy Storage Systems: A Case Study

How to reduce the cycling costs of conventional generation.

Energy Storage Systems (ESS) can provide significant benefits associated with reduced damage to fossil-fuel power plants if the ESS is used in such as way that it reduces start-ups or load-following/cycling. Though those benefits may not be well known, understood, or documented, they are real and ascertainable.
Byline: 

G. Paul Grimsrud, Steven A. Lefton, and Philip M. Besuner

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Distributed Generation: Hype vs. Hope

Separating myth from reality in identifying DG applications.

Technological breakthroughs in distributed generation have not materialized as quickly as expected. Furthermore, manufacturers have continued to improve traditional generation technologies. So what role can DG play?
Byline: 

Jonathan A. Lesser, Ph.D. and Charles D. Feinstein, Ph.D.

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Forget Black Gold or Texas Tea …

From Malibu to Beverly Hills, they all want a personal generator.

While it may not be the end-all, fix-all solution for the California energy crunch, many individuals have found that the use of personal generators is definitely worthwhile, particularly when it comes to keeping cool.
Byline: 

Jay S. Polachek

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Saving California with Distributed Generation

A crash program to use small, standby diesel generators to keep the lights on.

Fire up all the small, diesel-powered emergency generating units already installed on site in California. It would erase the power shortage, but it won’t happen without changing the way we think about unit dispatch.
Byline: 

Mark B. Lively

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