This new website just went live this morning. Looks like a good one. Happy reading!

http://www.eren.doe.gov/distributedpower/

This is the website of the DOE’s Distributed Power Program which is responsible for distributed resources’ system integration research and development. The site describes the Distributed Power Program and its activities, and provides information and current news about barriers to distributed power, policies and regulations, technical interconnection issues and upcoming events.

This unveiling was set to coincide with the long awaited release of the DOE “Barriers” study, by Brent Alderfer, Competitive Utility Strategies, which was discussed at the DOE DP Program meeting last October. (See UFTO Note – DOE Distrib Power Review & IEEE Interconnection Working Group; 12 Oct 1999.)

— Making Connections: Case Studies of Interconnection Barriers and their Impacts on Distributed Power Projects —

This study documents the difficulties faced by distributed generation projects seeking to connect with the electricity grid. The report examines the impact of interconnection issues on 65 distributed power projects. The case studies treated in the report clearly demonstrate that market barriers are real, and that they are, in part, an artifact of the present electricity industry institutional and regulatory structure designed for a vertically integrated utility industry relying on large central station generation. Given the findings, the report provides a ten-point action plan for reducing the technical, business practices, and regulatory barriers that may impede the deployment of distributed power technologies.

The full report is available for download as a pdf file: http://www.eren.doe.gov/distributedpower/barriersreport