Heavy incentives for small-scale distributed generation are floating around parts of Canada—and are growing globally. With large-scale generation becoming harder to build and having longer lead times, even utilities are looking favorably on small-scale distributed generation, such as residential photovoltaic (PV) generation.

The penetration of PV generation in distribution systems has increased dramatically in recent years and is expected to increase further. Small numbers of PV generation offer few or no problems on the power grid, but as the percentage of PV generation grows, a number of issues begin to appear.