I've been an ardent supporter of distributed generation for a long time. The key issue is the enormous waste in the current system where huge generators discard up to 70% of the energy from fossil fuels as heat. Then there are further losses to resistance in long distance transmission lines.
A distributed system would be based on much smaller generators serving smaller communities and can use the heat energy more efficiently to heat water and homes.
The BBC today does a really good overview of the concept and issues on their website here.
