A Critical Technology: Interconnecting Distributed Generation to the Grid

Abstract

Are current interconnection rules, as utilities often state, simply meeting utilities' needs for protecting the grid and ensuring the safety of linesmen? Or—as independent developers of distributed generation claim—are the rules' anti-competitive measures designed to block the spread of on-site generation? Conflicts of interest appear to be commonplace, and the answer probably depends on one's perspective. But no other issue controls the future of distributed generation like interconnection.