Distributed Generation - Issues for Companies Considering Generating Their Own Power

With existing and readily available technology, every industrial facility, factory, campus, hospital, hotel, commercial building, department store, apartment and house can generate enough electricity to satisfy its own needs under normal conditions and have back-up power when there is a blackout. The practice of installing and operating electric generating equipment at or near the site of where the power is used and sized for the facility’s needs is known as "distributed generation" (DG). It’s called "distributed" generation to contrast it with the traditional model of electricity generation in the U.S., which might be called "central" generation, and which consists of building and operating large power plants, transmitting the power over distances and then having it delivered through local utility distribution systems.