distributed generation
464 Views

GC: n

CT: Historically, distributed generation meant combustion generators (e.g. diesel gensets). They were affordable, and in some cases reliable, but they were not clean. While many people will tolerate dirty generation thousands of miles away from them, they think twice when it is outside their bedroom window or office door.
Recently, solar has become a popular distributed generation option. Although the output is clean it is also intermittent, making it an incomplete strategy for businesses that need power around the clock, including when the sun is not shining.

S: http://www.bloomenergy.com/fuel-cell/distributed-generation/ (last access: 21 December 2014)

N: 1. In the fields of Energy Transformation and Electric Power Stations: Distributed generation, also called on-site generation or decentralized generation, is the term for generation of electricity from sources that are near the point of consumption, as opposed to centralized generation sources such as large utility-owned power plants.
2. Distributed generation (DG) refers to power generation at the point of consumption. Generating power on-site, rather than centrally, eliminates the cost, complexity, interdependencies, and inefficiencies associated with transmission and distribution. Like distributed computing (i.e. the PC) and distributed telephony (i.e. the mobile phone), distributed generation shifts control to the consumer.
3. In the field of Wind Energy: A single or small clusters of wind turbines disseminated across the landscape in contrast to the concentration of wind turbines in large arrays or wind power plants.

S: 1. TERMIUMPLUS. 2. http://www.bloomenergy.com/fuel-cell/distributed-generation/ (last access: 21 December 2014). 3. TERMIUMPLUS.

SYN: DG, decentralised generation, energy distributed generation, embedded generation.

S: GDT

CRdistributed energy resources, electrical energy, electricity generation.