Premise

Distributed power generation facilities can be part of the U.S. energy solution, and Congress can help to make that happen.

What Is Distributed Generation?

There is no simple way to meet the nation's need for a clean, affordable and secure supply of electricity, but a complex of new technologies offer great promise. Among them are many new approaches for generating power near the point where it actually will be used. "Distributed energy" ("DE," also known as "distributed generation," or "DG") is a broad term that includes a range of technologies capable of generating electric power at locations near the point where it will be needed. The essential concept is that the energy user—or a marketer or utility produces electric power on or near the site where that power will be used, instead of having it transported over the grid. Because of recent technological progress, dispersed, small power facilities—as an alternative or supplement to traditional reliance on large, centralized power plants—can offer numerous benefits, including these:

• Reduced stress on the nation's strained power grids
• Lower costs and greater flexibility and reliability for consumers

• Better power quality (needed for our high-tech economy)

• Improved environmental profiles, including reduced transmission losses

• Enhanced energy efficiency.

When we talk about DG we are referring to both traditional and evolving technologies, such as turbines, reciprocating engines, solar and other renewable resources, storage and control systems, and fuel cells. Among the hottest new products are microturbines that operate on natural gas and offer low emissions and enhanced efficiency. These small-scale generation units have the potential to be mass-produced, sold like appliances, and readily installed and maintained in many situations.

How Can the Federal Government Foster Distributed Generation?

The trend toward DG is growing slowly, but it is not clear whether the market can move quickly enough to be part of a near-term solution to the nation's pressing energy problems. Challenges include the complexity of interconnection and other electric system issues, the difficulty of building enough demand to overcome the relatively high unit costs of first-generation DG products, and the lack of public awareness of DG's promise.

In recent years, DOE has played a big role in encouraging R&D and developing technical information about DG, and other Departments have demonstrated some of the benefits that DG can offer. While those roles must continue, the Federal Government can do more to encourage the commercialization of distribution energy technologies—it can offer incentives to buyers, exercise its own buying power, assist with siting, create public awareness, and cut red tape.

The CAEM DE Task Force

With its DE Task Force, CAEM brought together a broad group of experts—from industry, government, and nonprofit sectors—to focus on the near-term role that DG could play in addressing the nation's pressing energy issues. The group engaged in an intense short-term effort to identify and resolve barriers to the development of distributed power, and to support Federal policy to foster the growth of the DG market. As always, CAEM emphasized the need to base policy and strategy recommendations on research and analysis, and convened a Task Force with considerable and varied expertise.

The CAEM Distributed Energy Task Force had these goals:

• Articulate barriers to the growth of DG and frame related issues
• Assess Congressional awareness of DG, and explore policy opportunities

• Undertake studies and publish white papers

• Draft a final report, including policy recommendations

• Engage in advocacy in support of DG, including through presentations to Congress, and to relevant federal agencies.

DE Task Force Documents

• Talking Points on the DE Task Force [.pdf]
• Today's Energy Concerns Can Translate into Congressional Action to Jumpstart the DE Market [.pdf]

• The Federal Government's Role in Distributed Energy, CAEM's report describing the major Federal Government activities that encourage or hamper the commercialization of distributed energy and recommending changes that could allow distributed energy to play a more significant role as a choice among competing energy services.[pdf]