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Two solutions to the power crisis currently facing the United States are based on the traditional utility paradigm: build more power plants and beef up the transmission system to allow more power to be shipped to where it is needed. Legislation can be crafted to encourage investment in both approaches, and in fact, these actions are moving forward in many states. These investments will also be encouraged on a national level through the implementation of President Bush's National Energy Plan.
Distributed energy (DE) resources present an alternative approach to the problem. Rather than investing in both a source of power and a means of bringing it to the user, DE investments bring power solutions directly to user locations, bypassing the need for long-distance transmission of power. In fact, DE can help ease constraints on transmission and distribution systems while providing customer-specific solutions at the point of need. Yet each DE system represents a relatively small investment that can generally be installed within a short timeframe. DE can lessen the financial risk of investment and can be more responsive to changing load growth.
See New Power Grid Concepts for a description of approaches to improving the electricity grid or replacing it entirely.
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