Self-Generation is a term that means the consumer has his or her own generating unit. If the unit generates more power than is needed at the moment, the excess can be sent back through the consumer's electric meter into the electric grid and sold to the local utility. This is an example of what is today referred to as "distributed generation" (DG).

As I mentioned before, it would be very helpful, Jessica, if you would provide us with specific context from your contract - a paragraph that describes the unit in question. That could prevent you from being led astray.

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Note added at 12 hrs (2009-10-17 13:32:03 GMT)
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http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/energy/DistGen/sgip/

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Note added at 1 day2 hrs (2009-10-18 03:32:18 GMT) Post-grading
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Jessica, you are certainly free to pick any answer you want as most helpful. With all due respect, if rir's links helped you find a suitable translation, I believe you have a duty to enter your translation into the Glossary. Otherwise, you leave the door open for rir to post "power grid" into the Glossary, which would be a major disservice to the ProZ community. Please understand this is not intended to be a negative commentary, just an appeal to prevent a poor entry for posterity sake. Thanks for understanding.