[en] This power point presentation described the position of Maclaren Energy Inc in the Great Lakes Power Inc. (GLPI)/Brascan Group. Great Lakes Power operates 20 power plants with over 900 megawatts of installed capacity in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and the United States. This presentation outlined market issues, physical entities, congestion management and predictions. Maclaren's investment strategy is to invest in hydro and gas fired generation to provide high end services to preferred customers. The generation and customer portfolios are to be managed separately as they have separate objectives. The company's trading and marketing strategies are highly integrated. Some recent benchmarks for the company include the selling of nearly 425 MW of power to New Brunswick, and the first to supply energy to New England across phase 2, after Hydro-Quebec. In addition, the company has set up a transmission line to Michigan and has recently developed transmission and generation facilities in British Columbia. tabs., figs

[en] A brief article discusses the role of small scale alternative energy systems separate from the national grid. The reasons for having stand alone systems and advice on the suitable types of alternative energy systems for individuals and local communities are given. (UK)

[en] The potential and role of biomass resources in developing countries for addressing global climate change concerns are highlighted using India as a case study. Promotion of technologies, which use biomass more efficiently, is seen as a key strategy to integrate the concerns of both developing countries and developed countries. The role of various biomass technologies for improving rural infrastructure and village power is discussed in detail. A vision of establishing and running a chain of rural energy service companies, operating with a basket of devices and technologies, under the general provisions of CDM, is examined for commercialization and mainstreaming of biomass technologies which have achieved reasonable levels of maturity. (author)

[en] Electricite de France has developed and qualified for use a back up power supply system and emergency operating procedures to cope with a loss of power to the station auxiliaries and to bring the plant to a safe shutdown condition. (author)

[en] A new approach to power generation in which a cluster of small, on-site generators serve office buildings, industrial parks and homes, is being developed by scientists at the University of California's Berkeley Campus. Called microgrid, the system may well be the answer to satisfying the growing thirst for electricity without the danger of overburdening the aging transmission lines, or building 1,000 new power plants that would be required to meet the ever-growing demand. The new approach relies on small generators such as ordinary reciprocating engines, microturbines, fuel cells, and photovoltaic systems. This microgrid of small generators appears to the main grid as just an ordinary customer. When the grid offers cheap electricity, the microgrid can purchase it, but when prices rise, or when there is a power failure, the microgrid can isolate itself, ensuring uninterrupted power to critical equipment such as computers, communications infrastructure and control systems. The idea is that if sensitive equipment can be powered locally, the vulnerable centralized power system becomes much less critical. The microgrid could be powered by recovered waste heat, a currently wasted by-product of power generation. Waste heat could also cool and dehumidify buildings using thermally activated processes. Microgrids also have the potential to introduce real competition into the electricity market by offering customers a choice; this is expected to have the effect of imposing competitive discipline on power companies. To extend the potential even farther, it is considered well within the realm of possibility that by introducing fuel cell-powered cars into the microgrid, the car could be used as a source of power by simply parking it and plugging it in to supply electricity to the home or the office

[en] The Australian renewable energy industry has two faces: Remote Area Power Supply systems (RAPS), where the trade-off is between the traditional diesel generator and diesel hybrid or the stand alone renewable energy system. The competency of the Australian RAPS industry is recognised internationally. Grid connected renewable energy technologies, where industry activity is expanding rapidly, but where Australian competencies carry relatively little weight internationally (other than for research and development of related components such as big performance, crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells). Individual industry development strategies are required in each instance. The focus of this paper is on strategies that enhance the export potential of the Australian RAPS industry. Involvement of the electricity supply utilities is promoted as a means of quickly instituting a substantial industry presence. The term RAPS can be confusing. It is used to describe any supply system serving a remote user, be they a single property owner with a simple, stand alone DC photovoltaic supply, or several communities with complex, inter-connected, diesel/hybrid power stations, sometimes termed a 'remote-grid'. Utility interest tends to emerge as market fragmentation decreases, system complexity increases and economies of scale become evident. A review of the domestic situation is a necessary adjunct to development of export strategies for Australian RAPS products. The two are inexorably linked, as is reflected in the format of this paper. (author)

[en] Industrial consumers of energy now have the opportunity to participate directly in electricity generation. This report seeks to give the reader (1) insights into the various types of generation services that distributed generation (DG) units could provide, (2) a mechanism to evaluate the economics of using DG, (3) an overview of the status of DG deployment in selected states, and (4) a summary of the communication technologies involved with DG and what testing activities are needed to encourage industrial application of DG. Section 1 provides details on electricity markets and the types of services that can be offered. Subsequent sections in the report address the technical requirements for participating in such markets, the economic decision process that an industrial energy user should go through in evaluating distributed generation, the status of current deployment efforts, and the requirements for test-bed or field demonstration projects

[en] The concept of distributed, dispatchable power generation is essentially the reverse of interruptible service. It can be understood by regarding both power and money as vectors: when the direction of the power flow switches, so does the direction of the money flow. At a signal given by the utility, a factory activates its emergency generating system and briefly becomes an independent power producer (IPP), feeding power into a local region of the grid. Upon receipt of another signal, it retires from that role. It may, however, continue to generate power for its own use

[en] Difficulties facing the electric power industry to supply the ever increasing demand for electricity are discussed, along with likely alternatives, such as small-scale generation located at the point of use, fuel cells, which produce electricity from natural gas by means of a catalytic process, and micro-turbines that convert natural gas, sour gas or even biomass waste gas into electrical energy by driving a generator. The primary focus, however, is on more traditional sources of electrical generation, such as stand-by generator sets, found in many commercial and institutional buildings and ways of how they might be used most efficiently. As part of this discussion, there is an overview of the use of closed transition transfer switches, solid state transfer switches, and soft load transfer switches. These switches are control devices which by maximizing the efficiency of stand-by generators, make them the ideal first line of defence against the threat of declining electric power availability

No abstract available