Technology advances have been the impetus for the paradigm shift. Technology has advanced to the point where there is less of a need to build large, expensive power stations or long transmission lines when extra capacity is needed—economies of scale is no longer a viable argument for building large power plants or long transmission lines. Instead utilities can add smaller electricity generators for added load or peak power. At the site of use, distributive generation technologies such as micro and mini turbines, reciprocating engines, fuel cells, and photovoltaics are small-scale technologies that are either readily available today or will be in the near future.

A factor in distributive generation’s favor is that this technology is "friendly" to the environment and reliable.

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