Introduction

Three issues are associated with interconnection to the electric distribution system:

• equipment reliability and safety

• regulatory policy and contractual requirements

• procedural issues and requirements

As mentioned earlier, most of the United States distribution grid was never designed to have power injected into it. It was meant to be one-way flow, from the transmission grid to the distribution grid. Therefore, whenever one wants to put power into the distribution grid, these three issues come into play.

For anyone planning to install distributed energy resource (DER) technology, the interconnection of the device to the electric utility system becomes a major issue. In the United States, common standards for interconnecting DER devices into the utility system are just coming into existence. The lack of common standards is considered by some to be a barrier to the wide acceptance and installation of DER technologies. There are many other barriers:

• low efficiencies of some DER technologies

• high emissions of others

• limited availability of some technologies

• expensive capital cost

• immature technologies

Interconnection to the grid and operating when the grid is either up or down means more equipment must be added to the microturbine and sometimes to the grid. Because the distribution grid was not designed for power input, new standards and new rules are needed. All require public and personnel safety be taken into account and ensured above all else. The concept of distributed generation, although not new in theory, is new in the world of regulation. It is compounded by all...