Alternative Energy Distributed Generation: Need for Multi-Source Operation

Power deregulation, which resulted in restructuring of the power industry, and shortage of transmission line capacities have led to increased interest in the use of distributed generation (DG) sources, mainly at the distribution level near load centers, for support of the utility grid. Moreover, technological advances in renewable (wind, solar) and other alternative energy DG (AEDG) sources, e.g. microturbines and fuel cells, coupled with environmental concerns over the use of conventional steam power plants have developed especial interest in their use. However, because of the non-dispatchable nature of renewable energy and slow nature of some alternative energy power generation sources, e.g. fuel cells, multi-source operation of these sources and/or their parallel operation with a storage device is necessary to make their operation more reliable. This paper discusses the need for multi-source operation of AEDGs. It reviews four different AEDG sources - wind, solar photovoltaic (PV), microturbine, and fuel cells - and discusses their multi- source operation for better power management and reliability.