The U.S Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has purchased its second AC/DC High Power Source from AMETEK Programmable Power. The AMETEK system is a high power inverter suited for Energy Grid Testing.
If installed parallel with the previous AMETEK unit purchased in 2013, this new system can supply up to 2 MVA, which would make the system the largest ever built by AMETEK and the largest AC Grid Simulator in the world.
“Each of the two systems consists of four RS270 units, each capable of generating 270 kVA of power. Eight control chassis allow NREL engineers to remotely configure the system as a single 2 MVA, two 1MVA systems, four 540 kVA units, two 810 kVA unit and two 270 kVA unit, or eight, separate 270 kVA units. This capability will give NREL the flexibility it needs to simulate power grids to better understand how different renewable energy technologies interact with each other,” the company said.
The systems have also been customized to allow engineers to control it in real time by using external drive signals – which eliminates processing delays and the need for a system controller.
These systems also consume 85 percent less energy during testing, thus reducing energy costs, air conditioning requirements and eliminating the need for a traditional AC source. Heat dissipation also decreases by 85 percent during testing.
The NREL will use the systems for testing electrical grid systems and other experiments.
