About the ELEP-project

ELEPs- European Local Electricity Production- mission is to support to use of Distributed Power Generation ( DG ) in Europe by working towards removal of policy, commercial and regulatory barriers currently restricting the use of DG in Europe. It is a project partly funded by EU as part of Intelligent Energy for Europe.

DG is defined as power generation equipment and systems used generally at distribution voltages and where the power is mainly used locally on site.

The work is based upon the findings in the DG-FER project where the most important obstacles to a wide spread use of DG were identified. These had to do with

  • Interconnection standardisation
  • Commercial and policy issues
  • Building Directive issues
  • Certification and Authorisation

ELEP will focus its work on accomplish practical improvement in these areas.


What, Why and How

The concept of distributed generation relates to generation of power close to the point of consumption. – i.e. local production of electricity. Many different technologies can be used for such electricity generation including fossil fuelled systems as well as systems based upon renewable energy sources. Typical examples of DG are small scale combined heat and power systems using piston engines or gas turbines as prime mover, small wind power plants, photovoltaics, fuel cells and different types of small generating system operating on land fill or sewage gas..

The main reason to use DG and thus these different types of systems are one or more of the followIncreased efficiency

  • Higher reliability
  • Lower emissions
  • Less use of scarce primary energy sources
  • Lower investment cost

Different technologies and applications have different values.

The values may also be different for different stake holders. Main stake holders are the end users, the energy producing companies, the grid operators, system manufacturers and the society ( represented by policy makers and politicians )

Different attempts have been made to quantify the values of DG. This is quite difficult taken into account the different priorities of the different stake holders. However it can be concluded that all stake holders sees advantages with DG under certain circumstances. These circumstances may be connected to availability of a certain fuel, how good the grid is, the customers load profile or the customers need for reliability.

This variation in valuation of DG is also one reason that there are no standardised rules for installation and use of DG.

The final report of DG-FER which can be downloaded gives more information about value of DG and the barriers to DG.

ELEP Project Results

All ELEP Work Package reports can be found here.
ELEP WP 5.2 report presents proposals for DG certification and authorisation protocols that should be applicable across EU

Many of the suggested actions are already in place in individual countries. If they were implemented across Europe a significant amount of unnecessary cost and installation delay of DG would be removed. The report also points at California as a good example.
ELEP WP3.1 report on the value of distributed generation is now available

The report analyses the value of DG from many aspects, for example countries and location, technical solution, fuel efficiency, environmental impact and cost of electricity. One important conclusion is that large efficiency and environmental values will be obtained by choosing the right DG solution for a given location
ELEP WP2.4 report on Distributed Generation Ownership issues within EU

The report focuses on ownership rules, regulations and practices in the EU-15 Members States. One key conclusion in the report is that there is no consideration of DG in the network planning processes within DNOs. This is a serious barrier to deployment of DG at distribution level. A important recommendation is thus that action should be taken to enforce, what already is stated in Article 14 (7) of Directive 2003/54/EC, that distribution DNOs shall consider the use of DG.
ELEP WP5.1 report reviews the Certification and Authorisation procedures of DG across EU

Some important conclusions in the report are - There is a general lack of transparency regarding the procedures - The present situation shows confusing and imprecise procedures - The administrators are many and often not very familiar with the topic The report also includes a benchmark between different countries.
ELEP seminar on June 5 on enhancement of the integration of Distributed Generation into the Electrical Networks

The seminar that takes place in Brussels is arranged together with the project DG-GRID. Both projects have been considering the policy and legislative barriers to DG that exists within Europe. A series of proposals that adresses these non-technical barriers will be presented. The seminar will also cover the economics of DG and its value to Europe and the consequent impact of DG on the distribution grid and its operators.


Supported by the European Commission under the Intelligent Energy - Europe programme
This project is supported by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, under the Energy Intelligent Europe (EIE) Programme.

Contract no. EIE/04/175/S07.38664

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