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The age of the personal power plant is upon us. Today the United States is home to about 10,000 power plants. By 2003 there could be five times that many. By 2010 there could be over a million. The 1978 Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA) ushered in the era of independent power production. The average size of a new power plant dropped from almost 1,000 MW to less than 200 MW. Now an even more dramatic technological revolution may reduce the size of a new power plant by another 99 percent, from the megawatt to the kilowatt level, from the neighborhood scale to the small business and household scale. Look in this section for rules that will help citizens and communities to become energy self-reliant.
TOPICS AND RULES:
- Decentralized Power in Local and Regional Plans
If a proliferation of small-scale power plants serves the interests of the general community, cities and counties should include this as an element in their general plans and zoning ordinances. More...
- Distributed Generation Barriers Removed
As a result of the electricity crisis in California in 2001, initiatives to knock down the barriers to distributed power have been introduced that could provide a model for other states. One proposal in California, the Omnibus Distributed Energy Resources and Clean Electricity Act of 2001, would remove some of the financial barriers that utilities typically erect to discourage DG, such as exit and standby fees. More...
- Get the Prices Right: Value Decentralized Power
The objective of the future electricity system should be to optimize efficiency of the use, production and distribution of electricity. Regulators must quantify the benefits of dispersed power (and efficiency and storage) and develop pricing mechanisms that reflect the true costs of electricity distribution that encourage the siting of distributed generation resources when and where they are most needed. More...
- Incentives for Small Scale Wind Energy Projects - Minnnesota
Recognizing the benefits that small-scale and locally-owned wind projects can have, Minnesota lawmakers also enacted an incentive program targeted at wind energy projects sized at 2 MW or less that were built in the state. Minnesota's Renewable energy production incentive statute (MN Statutes §216C.41) provides qualfied facilities a 1.5 cent per kilowatt-hour production payment for 10 years provided the facility is in place by 2007. More...
- Interconnection Standards for Distributed Power
Efforts at both the federal and state levels are working to establish minimum technical criteria and requirements for interconnection of distributed resources with the electricity delivery grid. A uniform standard of interconnection will eliminate one of the primary barriers to increased use of distributed power. More...
- Making Energy Consumers Energy Producers
Small power plants located closer to the customer are fast become economically competitive with the centralized power plant model. This has occurred at the same time as most states, many cities, and the U.S. Congress are rewriting the rules that govern our electricity system. The challenge now is to write rules (i.e. codes, standards, regulations, statutes) to encourage power production at the site of the consumer. Rules in this section include Net Metering, PV Pioneers, and the Home Energy Generation Act. More...
- Solar Power on State Buildings in California
This law requires that solar energy equipment is installed, no later than January 1, 2007, on all state buildings and state parking facilities when deemed "cost-effective". It also would require solar energy equipment to be installed where feasible as part of the construction of all state buildings and state parking facilities that commences after December 31, 2002. The California law has a detailed defintion of term cost-effective that includes a broad life cycle cost analysis. More...
Distributed Generation Company Listings
Resources
- Distributed Generation Interconnection Tool Kit - a number of resources to help electric cooperatives address the legal, economic and technical issues raised by consumer-owned generation. Put together by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Cooperative Research Network, the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp. and Energy Co-Opportunity, May 2002
- California Energy Commission's Distributed Generation Site
- Developing Rates for Distributed Generation - National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, 2001
- Our Decentralized Energy Future: On-Site Power Generation Arrives - by David Morris for TomPaine.com, October 30, 2001
- Be Your Own Power Company- by David Morris, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 1983
- Small Is Profitable: The Hidden Economic Benefits of Making Electrical Resources the Right Size - Rocky Mountain Institute, 2002
- Green Power Networks' State Net Metering Program Descriptions
- State-by-State Interconnection Status Table - by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council
- Accommodating Distributed Resources in Wholesale Markets - by Rick Weston, Regulatory Assistance Project, 2001
- Performance Based Regulation for Distribution Utilities - Regulatory Assistance Project, December 2000
- The Dawning of Solar Cells - Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 1975
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