Embedded or Co- generation

Many industrial plants have their own generation installed. Sometimes it is for emergency use only, feeding a limited number of busbars and with limited capacity. This arrangement is often adopted to ensure safe shutdown of process plant and personnel safety.

In other plants, the nature of the process allows production of a substantial quantity of electricity, perhaps allowing export of any surplus to the public supply system – at either at sub-transmission or distribution voltage levels. Plants that run generation in parallel with the public supply distribution network are often referred to as co-generation or embedded generation.