IET Factfiles on Fuelcells, Combined Heat & Power, Distribution Generation and Glossary

The principles behind the operation of fuel cells and the various types available.

This Factfile describes the principles behind the operation of fuel cells and the various types of fuel cell available, and gives information on fuel cell performance, systems and applications.

An introduction to combined heat and power (CHP).

The conversion of primary fossil fuels, such as coal and gas, to electricity is a relatively inefficient process.  Each year, UK power stations typically reject more energy as waste heat than is consumed by the entire domestic sector.  The principle of Combined Heat and Power (CHP), also known as co-generation, is to recover and make beneficial use of this heat, significantly raising the overall efficiency of the conversion process.  The very best CHP schemes can achieve fuel conversion efficiencies of the order of 90%.

An introduction to distributed generation, sometimes referred to as embedded generation.

This Factfile provides an introduction to Distributed Generation (DG), also sometimes referred to as embedded generation. It provides a high level summary of the following topics:

• the development and current structure of the electricity supply chain
• the drivers that have accelerated the recent growth of DG
• current and potential future DG technologies
• data on the current DG capacity in Great Britain
• issues of licensing and markets; and
• the impacts of DG on distribution systems

Glossary of electrical generation and environment terms.

This glossary details the most commonly used terms that are used in the generation of electricity and the environmental effects of electricity generation.