U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Distributed Energy Program

Determining Your Goals

The first step in installing a distributed energy resource is to evaluate your goals and determine which technologies might fulfill them. The main questions to examine are:

What loads do you want to meet? — This can range from peak shaving to providing high-reliability, high-quality power.
What environmental goals do you have? — DER technologies range from technologies that are significantly more polluting than central station power plants, to zero-emission, nonpolluting technologies.
What energy resources are available? — The least-expensive power option is useless if the energy supply isn't available.
What cost goals do you have? — Your load requirements, your environmental goals, and the available resources may restrict your cost options, but it is important not to disqualify technologies based on sticker price alone.