Potential benefits of distributed generators to power systems

With the growing awareness of environmental protection, energy savings, and economic scenarios, distributed generators (DGs) have been playing an increasingly important role in power systems (PSs) all over the world. DGs applications in and potential impacts on PSs have been paid more and more attention in recent years. However, the potential benefits of DGs on PSs have not yet been systematically examined by qualitative and quantitative analysis in most existing literatures. A proper understanding of these is important for the extensive applications of DGs in PSs. Given this background, various benefits of DGs on PSs are presented and analyzed in this work. Benefits of employing DGs are classified and outlined in detail. Moreover, new developments, characteristics, applications, and algorithms associated with DGs in power systems are clarified.