Centralized and Decentralized Generated Power Systems - A Comparison Approach

(PSERC) is a multi-university Center conducting research on challenges facing the electric power industry and educating the next generation of power engineers. This copyrighted document may be distributed electronically or in print form as long as it is done (1) with the entire document including the cover, title page, contact page, acknowledgements, and executive summary in addition to the text, and (2) attribution is given to the Power Systems Engineering Research Center as the sponsor of the white paper. We acknowledge the US Department of Energy for providing funding necessary to support the work reported in this paper. We also recognize staff, faculty, and students of the Power Systems Engineering Research Center for their efforts in developing the vision that led to the " Future Grid " project under which this white paper falls. Finally, we express deep appreciation to the several reviewers who significantly contributed to the quality of this white paper. ii Executive Summary The objective of the paper is to identify the strengths and weaknesses associated with CG and DG infrastructure for the future electric grid system. These are many reasons for considering the extent for which a planning and operation decision should be based. This will involve the development of indices for an economical scale study of DG relative to CG, and consider which is the most cost-effective to accommodate new markets. In order to assess the robustness of DG and CG under different load conditions, different indices for measuring the combination of CG/DG with respect to its capability and resilience to handle unforeseen events. This will involve development of new tools for stability measure and reliability as constraints. The second aim of the paper is to evaluate the environmental impact of the structure and its ability to diminish radiation, decrease emissions, and reduce environmental effects. This again will require new sustainability indices and predictive algorithm for proper measuring the trade-off between CG and DG. Based on the analysis and drawbacks and gaps in existing tools, new computational tools will be recommended as part of the research agenda to development of a DG-based network for the future electric grid. The paper also plans to provide a national roadmap to guide towards identifying the right path forward in terms of which combination of DG resources and CG would make sense. The roadmap includes the determination of costs and trades off between CG and DG with respect to …