Already under way, the first part of an initiative to study and test the feasibility of integrating new power-delivery technologies into the power distribution system consists of Rolls-Royce (Derby, England) developing and designing a 1-MW inverter and fuel-cell system that will be tested and demonstrated at NextEnergy (Detroit, Michigan, U.S.), a nonprofit corporation founded to enable the commercialization of energy technologies that positively contribute to economic competitiveness, energy security and the environment.

Distribution utility DTE Energy (Detroit), Electrical Distribution Design Inc. (EDD; Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.), NextEnergy and Rolls-Royce are partnering on the three-year research and demonstration initiative, which is half being funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and half by the private sector, for a total of US$5 million.

The second part of the initiative will attempt to quantify the benefit of all known distributed generation on Detroit Edison's system. Detroit Edison President and COO Robert J. Buckler has asked that a Detroit Edison project management team be established to put customer generation into use as a virtual power plant up to 300 MW. This is an outcrop of work that has been done with the U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability and an extension of the current DOE project. This means the DOE project will be capturing the real thing.

The third part of the initiative will study and demonstrate intentional islanding using distributed generation. There will be a microgrid islanding demonstration being performed by NextEnergy, and a circuit-level islanding demonstration will take place on Detroit Edison's Fairgrove substation. A system study will be performed breaking Detroit Edison into three subcontrol areas with and without customer distributed generation.

Steve Waslo, DOE project manager, says, “Electricity is the No. 1 factor affecting our quality of life. Detroit Edison's creative linkage of distributed-generation assets solidifies our nation's electric transmission and distribution grid. The technology will help prevent blackouts. It means using less fuel, energy security, cleaner environment and lower cost of electricity.”

All three parts of the project are expected to be completed by 2009.