Can Centralized Power Plants Stand-Alone?
The United States of America is the world’s largest energy producer, consumer, and net importer. It also ranks eleventh worldwide in reserves of oil, sixth in natural gas, and first in coal. The energy sector is the key sector in the U.S. economy, as it contributes $475.63 billion to U.S. GDP as on 2003. Energy consumption is expected to increase more rapidly than domestic energy production through 2025. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the demand for energy is expected to grow by 43 percent through 2025. The Distributed Energy and Electric Reliability Program (DEER) of the Department of Energy (DOE), has set a national goal for DEER to capture 20 percent of new electric generation capacity additions by 2020 (Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 2000). Competition as a result of deregulation is driving utilities and consumers to seek out alternate means to reduce the cost of electricity. The centralized model is losing its viability on the account o
