Message-ID: <199601111621.IAA05633@cdp.igc.apc.org> Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 08:21:46 -0800 From: Tom Gray <mailto:tomgray@IGC.APC.ORG> Subject: --New World Hybrid Package To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
/* Written 7:36 AM Jan 11, 1996 by tomgray in igc:energy.news */ NEW WORLD MARKETS HYBRID REMOTE POWER PACKAGENew World Village Power Company (NWVP) has brought to market a hybrid power package for remote grid sites, according to company spokesman Lawrence Mott.
The system, including necessary controls, diesel generator, turbine, rotary converter, and battery bank, is the result of a technology developed by the firm and partially funded by the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF), Sandia National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo.
"The new power package is designed to deliver base load, grid quality power to remote sites while fully integrating renewable energy," Mott said. The package also has applications in grid stabilization at larger sites. "New World Village Power has just begun to open the markets to this technology," Jim Green of NREL said.
"Remote grids need support," Mott added. "Remote sites typically have scheduled shut-downs and often experience brown-outs. We (in the US) are accustomed to a constant, daily power supply. New World Village Power is in the business of supplying that sort of service to remote sites." The technology has developed, Mott said, because typical wind turbines are induction motor generators, supplying AC power, "but they require electrical support in order to operate correctly for use in AC power grids." A typical hybrid system also requires controls to manage generation sources.
Wind does not supply constant power to the grid, but it is often much cheaper at remote sites, where diesel may run as high as 50 cents/kWh. The NWVP package controls the power supply, switching automatically between generating sources, from a diesel generator, for example, to wind turbine or another appropriate renewable source; provides the required controls; and utilizes battery storage as a system stabilizer or storage buffer. "NWVP's power system package is a complete product," says Mott. "We envision it as a package used from 25 to 200 kW," he said.
The company has commissioned a wind/diesel unit in Northern Argentina as a part of a 50-kW power supply project with a 65-kW Danish turbine. NWVP has also shipped a 50-kW package to an NREL/DOE Brazil project along with four Bergey wind turbines and 10 kW of photovoltaic cells at a remote grid. In another development, New World has supplied the package to NREL's National Wind Technology Center in Golden, Colo., where it will be tested with an Atlantic Orient Corporation 50-kW turbine. Those tests are scheduled to begin this fall.
The product grew out of New World Village Power's background in remote power applications. In the 1980s Northern Power Systems, the original company which became a New World Power Corporation subsidiary in 1992, developed a market niche for high reliability power applications in remote areas, typically wind/PV/diesel for telecommunications in very difficult terrain. "We used to say, 'The Nastier, The Better'," Mott said. "The only prerequisite was a system ready to go. We would drop a box, sometimes by helicopter, at a site where there was little else but waiting connections," he said, "and off you go with a generation package."
The power package has been brought to the commercial stage partly through a development program funded by NWVP and the Alaska and federal agencies in 1993. That project will result in the installation at the end of this year of a commercial unit on St. Paul's Island in the Baring Sea.
According to Mott, NWVP looks for existing remote grids in developed and developing countries in Canada, Alaska, the Caribbean, South America, and the Philippines. Wherever the grids exist, NWVP goes in and often installs the complete package "including diesel generators and turbines from the most suitable vendor," Mott said. New World Village Power Company of Waitsfield, Vt., is a part of New World Power Corporation of Lime Rock, Conn., along with New World Grid Power of Palm Springs, Calif., and the Wireless Company of San Francisco.
"Historically, there have been few options for AC power at remote locations," NREL's Green explained. "There has been lots of DC power for things like telecommunications, but not much AC generation, not much to compete with the power generated from diesel gen-sets at remote locations," he said.
There have been three levels of NREL support during the development of the technology, Green said. The first was under the Cooperative Field Testing Program (CFTP) for wind systems from 1986 to 1989, where research on modeling and some limited experimentation with diesel generation and battery charging was performed. "DOE's cost share in this project was $100,000, the industry share was $171,000," Green said.
The second level, the Alaska program, was partially funded by NREL and initially planned on a commercial installation at a remote Alaskan village. That project will culminate in the St. Paul's Island project. The system should be up and running by the end of this year. The Alaska project from its inception has been funded by New World, the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation, Sandia National Laboratory of Albuquerque, N.M. and NREL/DOE. "NREL has a small current cost-share in the Alaska project," Green said.
The third level is the testing of the power system package with an Atlantic Orient Corp. turbine in Golden beginning this fall. New World Village Power has been eager to utilize NREL's facility for testing the package, Mott said. _______________________________________________________________________________
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