The SEL-734B Three-Phase Monitor and Capacitor Bank Control automates and monitors three-phase banks, combined with T&B’s selection of VerSaVac one and three-phase vacuum switches for pole-top capacitors, and VBM distribution vacuum switches.

Voltage regulation and volt ampere reactive (VAR) compensation wield the most influence over the efficiency of a power distribution system, according to Sergio Arellano, product line manager with Thomas & Betts. “The fastest way to improve the efficiency of power distribution is to install switched capacitor banks with smart electronic controls. It also provides the quickest return of investment of all possible methods.”

Among the new capacitor bank controls offered by this collaboration is the SEL-734B Three-Phase Monitor and Capacitor Bank Control, which is used to automate and monitor three-phase banks, combined with T&B’s selection of VerSaVac (VSV) one and three-phase vacuum switches for pole-top capacitors, and VBM distribution vacuum switches. Capacitor bank upgrade kits are also available for applying the capacitor bank control system to existing fixed-capacitor banks.

The new capacitor-bank control includes a power-quality monitoring, control, and reporting functions, and can be combined with metering accuracy measurements. Its plug-and-play pole mount enclosure provides weather-protected space to mount network radios, power supplies and encrypting transceivers. The capacitor-bank controls also include SEL standard software tools, a 10-year product warranty on SEL products, and technical support.

 Thomas & Betts Corp.

www.tnb.com

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories
www.selinc.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

The HyStat30 electrolyzer will be part of the fourth hydrogen fueling station contract awarded to Hydrogenics in 2011.

The developer and manufacturer of hydrogen generation and fuel cell products has announced a contract with Ballast Nedam IPM, awarded at the end of December 2011, to supply a HySTAT30 electrolyzer for integration into a Netherlands’ based hydrogen fueling station. The owner of the fueling station will be Waterstofnet, a non-profit organization financed by the Flemish and Dutch governments. It is likely the electrolyzer will be powered in part by offshore wind-generated electricity.

Hydrogen infrastructure and fuel cell vehicles have been embraced as a significant part of Europe’s transportation solution towards the achievement of 2050 carbon-emission targets. Multiple regional initiatives are underway throughout Europe to this end.

With over 35 hydrogen fueling installations world-wide, Hydrogenics’ HySTAT electrolyzers continue demonstrate a role in the energy mix for transportation, with scalable capabilities to produce hydrogen on demand. This is the fourth hydrogen fueling station contract awarded to Hydrogenics in 2011.

“Our success in supplying electrolyzer-based hydrogen fueling stations is directly linked to our considerable experience in industrial hydrogen markets,” says Daryl Wilson, Hydrogenics President and Chief Executive Officer. Over the past 10 years, Hydrogenics has added over 200 industrial installations worldwide to its 1,800 install-base.

HySTAT 30 electrolyzers are capable of producing up to 65 kilograms per day of pure hydrogen. The unit will arrive mid-2012 and produce hydrogen by year’s end.

HYDROGENICS Corp.
www.hydrogenics.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

Fuel cells are one of the most promising method of energy storage attracting the highest amount of investor interest among other power supply technologies.

The growing consumer demand for a reliable energy storage has resulted in a series of inventions in the energy-storage market. In recent years, significant progress has been made in in advanced batteries, fuel cells, flywheels, and ultracapacitors. There has been significant progress in increasing the expected battery life and in developing battery technologies capable of effectively powering digital devices, power tools, electric-vehicle batteries, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

A hydrogen fuel cell is a zero-emission source of power. Some fuel cells use natural gas or hydrocarbons as fuel, but even those produce far less emissions than conventional sources. Therefore, fuel cells eliminate or at least vastly reduce the pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, and because they are also quiet in operation, they also reduce noise pollution. The advantages of advanced energy storage devices are significantly increasing consumer demand with a trend expected to continue. A few comments on several developments are in order.

Advanced-battery industry
A key drivers of the advanced-battery industry is that it is an environmentally friendly technology with fewer pollution and battery-disposal issues than other technologies. The policies and environmental standards given by different regulating authorities help in assessing the advanced battery manufacturers in terms of the environmental hazards associated with conventional batteries. The technological aspects of each advanced battery differ based on different parameters, such as the duration of storage, capacity, energy density, cost, and life cycle. Advanced batteries are secondary electrochemical energy storage devices and are large in terms of size and energy capacity. They are technologically advanced and environmentally friendly. The advanced batteries market is expected to increase from $6,500 million in 2010 to $20,190 million in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12%.

Lithium ion battery market
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries power devices such as laptop computers, mobile phones, cameras, electric vehicles, and power tools. Li-ion batteries provide high energy densities which lets the electronic devices recharge less frequently. Also, Li-ion batteries weigh less when compared to other forms of rechargeable batteries.
With mounting oil supply concerns and environmental pressures, Hydro-electric Vehicles (HEV) and plug-in HEVs (PHEVs) are expected to be the next generation technology for light and heavy-duty vehicles. The Li-ion battery market for hybrid electric vehicles is rapidly emerging with massive potential. Although Li-ion batteries for hybrid electric vehicles are still in an emerging phase, they are most likely to displace the Nickel-metal Hydride (NiMH) share in the future due to their growing prominence.

NiMH battery market
This well established and understood technology offers a dual advantage of low cost and acceptable performance. HEVs equipped with this battery have a greater range and offer twice the energy density of lead acid batteries at 80 watt-hours/kg. NiMH has economies of scale to reduce the overall battery system cost and is expected to remain a viable option for conventional HEVs.

Fuel cells
These are one of the most promising energy storage technologies attracting the highest amount of investor interest among other power supply technologies. Driven by the need to compensate for the ill-effects and inconveniences of lead-acid batteries, stationary fuel cells are largely used for backup-power applications. Fuel cells are considered low-maintenance, environmentally friendly storage with long life spans for long periods of back-up power. Because the market is in its developmental stage, it is characterized by low sales volumes, and consequent price falls due to lack of adequate demand. Nevertheless, the potential of fuel cells are being actively explored by the power-supply players across the value chain. The

global fuel cells market is expected to increase from $543.8 million in 2010 to $3710.3 million in 2020 at 21.2% annually.

Ultracapacitors can store a significant amount of energy due to the enormous surface area created by their porous carbon electrodes and small charge separation created by a dielectric separator. The charges they hold are analogous to the static electricity that builds on a surface, but are much greater due to the extremely large surface area of their interior materials.
Energy-storage mechanisms in supercapacitors are highly reversible and so allow charging and discharging over hundreds of thousands of cycles. Total number of charge-discharge cycles for commercial ultracapacitors varies from 500,000 to 1 million. Ultracapacitors have high efficiency and are best suited for applications that require high power density, such as consumer electronics, transportation, industrial and telecommunication.

The report authors also offers a for-sale report, Advanced Clean Energy Storage Devices – Global Market Size, Market Analysis by Major Storage Device, and Competitive Landscape to 2020. It gives, say authors, a clear understanding of the advanced energy storage devices market. It provides insight into key drivers impacting the market and its challenges. The report also provides data regarding the historical and forecast growths, market segment analysis, investment analysis, competitive landscape, major regulations and support programs.
ASDReports
ASDReports.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

Vehicle traction batteries make it important to look at a whole picture and this report is said to do so for the first time. The rapidly growing market for traction batteries will exceed $55 billion in only ten years. However that spans battery sets up to $500,000 each with great sophistication needed for military, marine, and solar aircraft use. Huge numbers of low cost batteries are used for e-bikes but even here several new technologies are appearing. The largest replacement market is for e-bikes today and the value market for replacement batteries will not be dominated by cars when these batteries last the life of the car – something likely to happen within ten years, say authors.

Vehicle manufacturers are often employing new battery technology first in forklifts or e-bikes, not cars, yet there is huge progress with car batteries as well – indeed oversupply is probable in this sector at some stage. The mix is changing too. The second largest volume of electric vehicles being made in 2010 is mobility aids for the disabled but in ten years, it will be hybrid cars. The market for car traction batteries will be larger than the others but there will only be room for six or so winners in car batteries and other suppliers and users will need to dominate their own niches to achieve enduring growth and profits. Strategy must be decided now.

In this report, researched in 2010 and frequently updated, the authors analyze the successes, needs, the statistics and the market potential for traction batteries for all the major applications. This has never been done before. It is important to look at the whole picture because traction battery manufacturers typically sell horizontally across many applications and electric vehicle manufacturers increasingly make versions for many applications – heavy industrial, on road, leisure and so on. Smarter putative suppliers will choose sectors that best leverage their strengths rather than join the herd and be obliterated by corporations of up to $100 billion in size enjoying prodigious government support.

IDTechEx
www.idtechex.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

Ampair’s development crew say containerPod, a turn-key power package, includes wind generators, PV arrays, and a back-up diesel generator to ‘rescue’ the system should there be a prolonged bout of poor renewable-generation weather.

UK based Ampair, a small wind-turbine manufacturer, has launched the containerPod range of power devices intended to provide platform power for offshore wind measurements. “Onshore heated met-masts and Lidar installations use some 50 to 200W, and to date we have been able to power these with existing equipment,” says Ampair’s Jeremy Davies. “However, in offshore installations, loads are typically 400W at a minimum, reaching to well over 1kW for periods. The reason for the higher loads is the requirement to power essential navigation lighting and communications equipment on the same platform with the simultaneous use of traditional met-mast and Lidar measurement devices.”

Ampair’s OF4000 containerPod unit is a turn-key power package that includes wind generators, PV arrays, and a back-up diesel generator to ‘rescue’ the system should there be a prolonged bout of poor renewable-generation weather.
The OF4000 powers continuous loads up to 850W for 12 months without need for a support vessel to refuel the unit. “After simulations, we could see that a purely renewable solution just didn’t add up because it required much larger battery banks, larger wind-turbine arrays, and larger solar arrays. These carry a high price, weight, and deck-space premium. From the model, we could see the best efficiency came from a small dc diesel generator that may run 50 to 100 hours a year. By keeping the generator run time low, we still deliver the low-to-no maintenance benefit of a purely renewable-based system, but we can supply power year round in a more cost and size effective package”.

ContainerPod includes a variety of ideas that minimise platform size. For example, a through-deck turbine pole which allows lowering the Ampair 600 wind turbine to chest height. “The system can be configured to power all required loads on a met platform in one single containerised package with the added benefit of providing additional internal real estate for electrical panels,” says Ampair’s David Sharman.

Ampair
www.ampair.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

The DOE/ IEA Hydride Databases include extensive listings of alloys reported to produce hydrides, detailed engineering properties on selected hydrogen storage elements and alloys, and hydride applications. Task 12 of the IEA Hydrogen Implementing Agreement was an R&D effort to develop new solid hydrogen storage media, in particular aiming at properties that might be suitable for hydrogen fueled vehicles. Although offline for over a year, this portal is a valuable resource to the global research community. Over the last several years, DOE-funded researchers have been collaborating on advanced hydrogen storage materials with more than 40 laboratories in at least 19 countries. The database provides an opportunity to leverage activities and share results worldwide.

US DoE
www.doe.gov

Windpower Engineering & Development

Powercorp has developed a rapid energy source and sink system based on a modern flywheel and bi directional inverter. Energy required to prevent under frequency is drawn from the flywheel at a rate of 1MW in 5msec. Alternatively the system can absorb energy surges at the same rate and prevent driving grid conditions outside utility specifications.

A power and automation technology group, ABB, has agreed to acquire an Australian renewable power automation company, Powercorp. The acquisition improves control technologies ABB uses to combine renewable energy sources.

Darwin based Powercorp employs about 30 people and offers automation and intelligent controls to manage renewable-energy generation in isolated grids, ensuring utility grade power quality and grid stability. This enables higher levels of wind and solar power penetration into isolated diesel powered grids, thus reducing emissions and dependency on fossil fuel.

Powercorp has installed several systems to integrate renewable power into remote grids and keep generation in balance with consumption. The company also supplies systems that dynamically store and release energy in response to frequency and voltage deviations, to stabilize small or remote grids. The transaction is expected to close before year end.

ABB
www.abb.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

The HySTAT uses pressurized alkaline electrolysis to generate high purity hydrogen at pressures to 25 bar (363 psi) directly from the electrolyser module. Hydrogen and oxygen are channeled through efficient inorganic membranes resulting in high-quality hydrogen.

A manufacturer of hydrogen generation and fuel cell products says it has been selected by the City of Herten, Germany to store hydrogen generated from wind power. Herten is a major German hydrogen cluster for electro-mobility as well as renewable energy projects.

Renewable wind energy is a good source of power for communities to offset the demand traditionally served by electricity from fossil fuels. Wind energy also has significant potential as part of Germany’s commitment to phase out nuclear power by 2020. By incorporating hydrogen energy storage, excess wind power can be stored and redeployed when the wind is not blowing, ultimately supplying a greater percentage of the community’s overall power requirements with improved stability and reliability.

To meet the project requirements, Hydrogenics will provide one HySTAT 30 hydrogen generation unit and a HyPM 50 kW fuel cell power system to Herten in 2012. This combination will demonstrate the advantage of hydrogen with its ability to scale and store significant amounts of energy for long periods with negligible loss. From storage, the energy will be redeployed through fuel cells as electricity to the grid, or as fuel for zero emission vehicles and other devices, such as industrial equipment.

Electrolyzing water into hydrogen using excess intermittent renewable energy is the optimal clean pathway to smart-grid stabilization and energy storage. It has real advantages over alternative energy storage solutions,” said Hydrogenics CEO Daryl Wilson.

Hydrogenics Corp.
http://www.hydrogenics.com/

Windpower Engineering & Development

Argonne researcher Sabine Gallagher loads a sample mount of battery cathode materials for X-ray diffraction, an analysis tool for obtaining information on the crystallographic structure and composition of materials.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have patented an extremely stable, 4-Volt redox shuttle molecule that provides overcharge protection for lithium-ion batteries containing lithium–iron-phosphate based cathodes across hundreds of charging cycles.

Overcharge is a major safety concern for Li-ion batteries because it could cause thermal runaway, a concern for large batteries – such as those used for transportation and storage applications – because they contain a large amount of active material.

“When a battery pack is being charged, each cell in the pack may have varying levels of charge,” said Argonne materials scientist Khalil Amine, who leads the research group that developed the shuttle. “Overcharge generally occurs when a current is forced through a battery and the charge that is delivered exceeds the charge-storing capacity of the battery, which can damage the entire battery.”

Modern, well-designed batteries prevent overcharge from occurring through use of external battery monitoring and control systems that function both at the cell and battery level. This new material offers a tool for addressing some of the concerns associated with overcharge using an approach that functions inside each cell.

“The new redox shuttle, known as 2,5-di-tert-butyl-1,4-bis(2-methoxyethoxy)benzene or DBBB, works by halting the charging process of individual cells as they come to a full state of charge,” Amine said. “Being able to discontinue the charging process on a cell-by-cell basis protects the entire battery pack by preventing individual cells from overcharging.”

DBBB, which dissolves in the electrolyte, works by moving back and forth from the anode and cathode in place of the Li-ion, Amine explained. The shuttle technology achieved up to 300 cycled overcharges in the lab. The shuttle is undergoing validation test by industry, and the results to date are very encouraging, he said.

Researchers in Argonne’s Advanced Battery Materials Synthesis and Manufacturing Research & Development Program have already scaled up production of DBBB to 1.5 kilograms from the sub-gram amounts Amine’s group required for bench-scale research and development. The larger amount of the redox shuttle material is needed by companies that want to test the material for possible commercialization. The stability and repeated long-term overcharge cycling capability of this new shuttle molecule was demonstrated by Amine and his Argonne colleagues Zhengcheng Zhang, Lu Zhang and Wei Weng.

The redox shuttle is part of a suite of advanced battery materials developed by scientists at Argonne. The lab’s Advanced Battery Materials Synthesis and Manufacturing R&D Program focuses on scalable-process R&D to produce advanced battery materials in sufficient quantity for industrial testing. This work is intended to support domestic battery manufacturing and to enable the transition of new materials and technology to the market.
Argonne
www.Anl.gov

Windpower Engineering & Development

The Smart Grid Storage Management System provides an interface between a stored power source and a utility grid. The equipment consists of a master control system and a 2-MW, 2.5-MVA power conversion system.

The Smart Grid SMS Storage Management System is said to provide an interface between a stored power source and the utility grid. It consists of a master control system and a 2-MW, 2.5-MVA power conversion system (PCS). The PCS has two inverters, each rated 1 MW and 1.25 MVA. When coupled with stored energy, the SMS can charge the storage device from a utility source, or discharge the storage device to the utility. When connected to a feeder, the SMS can supply VARs in response to an external command, or hold feeder voltage at a preset level. The SMS can also operate independently, supplying power to a load not connected to a utility. Individual SMS units can be operated in parallel up to 10.0 MW or 12.5 MVA, with unit outputs connected to a common bus at medium voltage. Two or four SMSs are housed in a single ISO container for outdoor installation. Each 2-MW block contains two dc-circuit breakers, two ac-circuit breakers, two PCSs and controls. The output of the PCS is a 480-V delta connection that can be connected to a delta or wye transformer. If it is necessary to supply single-phase loads when the utility source is not present, a delta connection must be used. A few applications include:

UPS for data centers. The SMS is the largest-capacity static-inverter pack available in the UPS industry. Its high capacity and medium voltage capability, gives data-center designers greater flexibility than previously possible. The SMS’s design is capable of powering complete data center loads, including air-conditioning chillers. Single bus systems up to 24,000 kW are possible with the SMS.

SMS for renewable energy. Solar and wind energy are intermittent power sources that the grid must accept whenever available. During absences of sun or wind— when these sources are not generating—replacement power must be provided. The SMS can store the power when it’s produced, and then use that energy for generation ramp-rate control, output-smoothing, or time-shifting.

Grid-scale energy storage. The SMS can deliver up to 2 MW of stored energy to a grid from any type of battery storage.

Islanding. When applied with S&C’s IntelliTeam SG Automatic Restoration System, the SMS can be used in remote areas, as an energy source during power outages. Upon loss of utility power, IntelliTEAM SG re-configures the distribution system and uses the stored energy to serve local customers—now isolated from the utility—for as long as 7 hours.

Peak shaving. During high-demand periods, the SMS can provide full output for up to seven hours. This reduces the system peak, deferring the need for capacity additions on the distribution or transmission system.

The company lists these product features:

• Megawatt-hours of energy storage for Smart Grid applications.

• High efficiency.

• Fully digital control system.

• Better use of renewable energy.

• With S&C’s IntelliTEAM SG Automatic Restoration System, provides dynamic islanding capability.

• Automatic or remote SCADA control.

• Turnkey installation and project management for smooth integration into utility system.

S&C Electric Co.

www.sandc.com

Windpower Engineering & Development