ABSTRACT
Increasing the use of renewable energy will have significant impacts on the operations of energy utilities, the companies that deliver electricity and gas to consumers using networks of wires and pipes. As discussed in Chapter 2, many renewable energy technologies are very different from the traditional large-scale, centralized technologies that utilities have relied on for more than 100 years. Electricity transmission and distribution system operators will have to become used to taking power from many smaller generators, distributed around the system, while larger-scale renewable generators are often sited far away from the major loads. Other renewable electricity may be self-generated by consumers and firms, and electric utilities would then provide a residual service or perhaps install and maintain the self-generators. Gas utilities may find that the demand for their product falls significantly as consumers switch to renewable sources of heat.
