C M Y CM MY CY CMY K

Distributed
Generation
The Power Paradigm
for the New Millennium

Ann-Marie Borbely
Jan F. Kreider

CRC Press
Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C.
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Distributed generation: the power paradigm for the new millennium / edited by
Anne-Marie Borbely and Jan F. Krieder.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8493-0074-6
1. Power resources. 2. Energy development. 3. Environmental protection. 4.
Distributed generation of electric power. I. Borbely, Anne-Marie. II. Kreider, Jan F.,
1942-

TJ163.2 .D56 2001

333.79—dc21 2001025250

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Preface

Behind the public eye a quiet revolution is taking place, one that will perma-
nently alter our relationship with energy — the building block of our indus-
trial, digital society. Most people today have heard about deregulation of the
electric utility industry. A smaller but significant portion of people have
joined the stock-buying frenzy surrounding fuel cell developers and other
darlings of the energy IPO world. But there’s much more at stake here, and
this book is a first step in understanding the myriad issues facing both home-
owners and businesses.
Distributed generation is not a new concept. Originally, all energy was
produced and consumed at or near the process that required it. A fireplace,
wood stove, and candle are all forms of “distributed” — small scale,
demand-sited — energy. So is a pocket watch, alarm clock, or car battery. The
key to today’s energy revolution, however, involves turning the resource
clock backwards (from large power plants hundreds or thousands of miles
away to a “heat engine” in the building) by riding the rapidly accelerating
technology wave forward.
For that reason, this book describes not only the technologies being devel-
oped today — fuel cells, microturbines, Stirling engines, photovoltaics — but
also the communications and control systems that will populate the new
energy landscape. The new energy world has as many questions attendant
upon its birth as answers. What regulatory issues are at stake? What are the
financial and economic implications? How do the installation and operation
affect the building owner? What fuels can be used, and what does this all
mean for the existing electric distribution system? All these questions are
addressed here as well. And, finally, the profound resource and air-quality
implications of combined heat and power, an old idea also given new life by
a suite of technical advances, are discussed.
The editors invited the developers to represent their respective technolo-
gies, with regulatory personnel, research scientists, economists, and financial
advisors all providing their unique perspectives. The final product is
intended to give the engineer or energy business developer a broad under-
standing of the distributed generation world as it is emerging today.
The editors wish to thank several individuals, in addition to the expert
chapter authors, whose contributions were critical to this book. Christian
Yoder contributed to the financial sections, sharing his experience with elec-
tricity and gas trading. Craig Moorhead shared his wisdom on the future of
natural gas markets. Lois Arena and Peter Curtiss undertook critical readings
of the final manuscript. William Reinert first stimulated the interest of both
editors in the new energy paradigm for the 21st century.

©2001 CRC Press LLC

Editors

Anne-Marie Borbely is a technology policy and planning manager with the

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington. Ms. Bor-
bely works with both private industry and the public sector to develop the
distributed generation industry in the United States. Clients include manu-
facturers and electric or gas utilities, who contract for market analysis, distri-
bution channel development, sales/customer support, and systems
integration. Her 10 years of publishing and editorial experience include over
60 popular and industry articles published in English, Hungarian, and
Romanian, as well as editorship of nine popular and technical texts. Ms. Bor-
bely frequently lectures on distributed generation at industry conferences
and popular forums.

Jan F. Kreider, Ph.D., P.E. is professor of engineering and founding director

of the University of Colorado’s (CU) Joint Center for Energy Management.
He is cofounder of the Building Systems Program at CU and has written
seven textbooks on alternative energy, two books on building systems and
other energy related topics, and more than 175 technical papers. He is presi-
dent of Kreider and Associates, LLC, an energy consulting company. For 10
years he was a technical editor of the ASME Transactions Journal of Solar
Energy Engineering.
During the past decade, Dr. Kreider has directed more than $5,000,000 in
energy related research and development. His work on energy systems for
buildings, building performance monitoring, building diagnostics, and
renewable energy research is known all over the world. Among his major
accomplishments are the first applications of neural networks to building
control, energy management, and systems identification, as well as the devel-
opment of applied artificial intelligence approaches for building design and
operation. He has assisted governments and universities worldwide in estab-
lishing renewable energy and energy efficiency programs since the 1970s. In
1980 Dr. Kreider and his colleagues connected the first wind-powered dis-
tributed generation system to the grid of the Public Service Company of Col-
orado. He has designed numerous systems since then. He is a Fellow of the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a registered professional engi-
neer, and a member of several honorary and professional societies. Dr. Kre-
ider received ASHRAE’s E. K. Campbell Award of Merit, CU’s Outstanding
Researcher Award (College of Engineering, Boulder), and the Distinguished
Engineering Alumnus Award, CU’s highest honor.

©2001 CRC Press LLC

 Dr. Kreider earned his B.S. degree (magna cum laude) from Case Institute
of Technology, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in engineering from the Uni-
versity of Colorado. He was employed by General Motors for several years,
where he was involved in the design and testing of automotive heating and
air conditioning systems.

©2001 CRC Press LLC

Contributors

Anne-Marie Borbely Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland,

Washington

Richard Brent Solar Turbines Incorporated, Washington, D.C.

Jacob Brouwer University of California, National Fuel Cell

Research Center, Irvine, California

Sunil Cherian Sixth Dimension, Inc., Fort Collins, Colorado

Peter S. Curtiss Kreider and Associates, LLC, Boulder, Colorado

Jeffrey Dagle Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland,

Washington

Paul Dailey Stirling Technology, Inc., Kennewick, Washington

James Daley ASCO Power Technologies, Florham Park,

New Jersey

Peter Fusaro Global-Change Associates, Inc., New York, NY

Michael Godec ICF Consulting Group, Inc., Fairfax, Virginia

Yogi Goswami University of Florida, Department of Mechanical

Engineering, Gainesville, Florida

Bruce Hedman Onsite Energy Corporation, Washington, D.C.

Tina Kaarsberg U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C.

Jan F. Kreider Kreider and Associates, LLC, Boulder, Colorado

Ken Nichols Barber-Nichols, Inc., Arvada, Colorado

Ari Rabl Ecole des Mines, Paris, France

Colin Rodgers San Diego, California

©2001 CRC Press LLC

Branch Russell Syntroleum Corporation, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Lawrence Schienbein Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland,

Washington

David Shearer AVES, Sausalito, California

Don Stevens Battelle Northwest Laboratory, Richland,

Washington

Dan Thoren Barber-Nichols, Inc., Arvada, Colorado

James Watts Ingersoll Rand Energy Systems, Portsmouth,

New Hampshire

Herb Whitall EGSA Headquarters, Boca Raton, Florida

Morey Wolfson National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden,

Colorado

Eric Wong Caterpillar, Inc., Sacramento, California

©2001 CRC Press LLC

Contents

Preface

1. Distributed Generation: An Introduction

Anne-Marie Borbely and Jan F. Kreider

2. Combustion Engine Generator Sets

Eric Wong, Herb Whitall, and Paul Dailey

3. Combustion Turbines
Richard Brent

4. Photovoltaic Systems
Yogi Goswami and Jan F. Kreider

5. Microturbines
Colin Rodgers, James Watts, Dan Thoren, Ken Nichols,
and Richard Brent

6. Fuel Cells
Jacob Brouwer

7. Principles of Control of Distributed Generation Systems

Peter S. Curtiss

8. Economic and Financial Aspects of Distributed Generation

Ari Rabl and Peter Fusaro

9. The Regulatory Environment

Morey Wolfson

10. Combined Heat and Power (CHP)

Bruce Hedman and Tina Kaarsberg

11. Electric Power Distribution Systems

Lawrence A. Schienbein and Jeffrey E. Dagle

12. Installation and Interconnection

James M. Daley and Anne-Marie Borbely

©2001 CRC Press LLC

13. Fuels
Branch Russell, Don Stevens, and Michael Godec

Nomenclature

©2001 CRC Press LLC

 This book is dedicated

to Billy, who had the vision.