As a follow-up, DOE EERE-joined by the Gas Research Institute-is now publishing this document, Gas-Fired Distributed Energy Resource Technology Characterizations. The Gas Research Institute (GRI) has long had a considerable program of R&D aimed at developing commercially viable natural-gas-fired distributed generation systems and transitioning them to commercial partners. Because of this R&D, DOE invited GRI to collaborate on this report, and GRI designated its primary contractor, the Gas Technology Institute, as technical reviewer of the technology characterization chapters. This report describes the current status and future potential of six natural gas-fired distributed energy resource technologies through the year 2030. The six DER power technologies are: Reciprocating engines Small industrial gas turbines (1 MW to 40 MW) Microturbines Small steam turbines Fuel Cells Stirling engines While these technologies are capable of utilizing a variety of fuels in a range of applications, the focus for these characterizations are in electric power and combined heat and power (CHP) applications using natural gas. 1.2 Technology Characterization Approach A three-step approach was used to develop the TCs. In the first step, the best available information was compiled by the authors, based on their knowledge and experience from years of direct involvement in distributed energy, and then reviewed by experts to produce a set of six draft distributed energy TCs. The next step involved extensive peer review of the TCs data. An initial peer review was conducted over the Internet using a password-protected Web site during a three-month period. Invited participants were asked to provide detailed review of one or several TCs based on their areas of expertise. Reviewers included technology manufacturers, equipment

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This work is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Thomas C. Schweizer, who served as president and CEO of PERI until 2005. Tom pioneered many of the evaluation and planning activities for the Wind Energy Program for more than two decades and was recognized as an international expert in renewable energy technology and economics. He earned the DOE's Wind Energy Outstanding Program Leadership Award in 2003. v The program further assumes Balance-Sheet Financing by a generating company (GenCo), as will be discussed shortly. This is different than industry, which sometimes talks of a "year one COE" or "bid price," which also may be a wholesale price, but which is the nominal cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for power produced during the project's first year, which will escalate, and which includes the PTC. In addition, industry may assume another ownership/finance scenario, such as Independent Power Plant (IPP)