Windpower Engineering & Development

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Most recent posts
    • News
    • Featured
  • Resources
    • Digital issues
    • Podcasts
    • Suppliers
    • Webinars
    • Events
  • Videos
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
  • Magazine
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

1 phase 25 kW bidirectional grid-tie wind inverter makes net metering possible for farm & industrial

By Paul Dvorak | August 30, 2011

The SPS-Pavan 25 features minimum harmonic point tracking to reduce harmonic distortion, and a unity power factor operation while drawing or supplying power to a single-phase grid.

Small and community-wind farms (25 to 100 kW) are fast growing markets in North America for wind-energy applications. But this great opportunity has drawbacks. For instance, farms are mostly supplied with split single phase power. Though single phase inverters are available for small wind turbines, such products are not practically usable at such power levels. Larger wind turbines at such power levels typically work on three-phase power which is not readily available in rural areas, so products that need it go unused.

Though the available wind inverters have many useful features, they can only supply power into a grid. Power can’t be taken from the grid for critical functions such as electrical breaking of a turbine during high winds or starting a turbine and overcoming its inertia under light winds. This issue forces turbine manufactures to design around the drawback by adding larger resistor and mechanical brakes which drives costs up.

A third issue is safety. To their knowledge, says a company spokesman, there are no UL 1741 certified bi-directional single phase 25 to 100-kW systems commercially available to the small and community-wind-turbine manufactures at this time.

Smart Power Systems Inc says it has developed a solution to the problems with the introduction of a 25 kW single phase bi-directional inverter. The SPS-Pavan 25 features minimum harmonic point tracking to reduce harmonic distortion, and a unity power factor operation while drawing or supplying power to a single-phase grid.

 

The inverter has passed UL 1741 certification tests at Metlabs Inc and is certified for production. The 25-kW model can be paralleled to produce 50 or 100 kW systems. Three such inverters can also be used to make 3 phase, high-power systems. The SPS Pavan-25 inverter is said to be a versatile unit that with minor modifications can be used for solar farms as well. Additional inverter features include

  • Single phase grid tie in for generated power
  • Bi-directional power conversion
  • Net metering made possible for single-phase farm lines and small businesses.
  • Useful where three-phase power is unavailable or prohibitively expensive
  • Helps energy production under light wind conditions by starting a wind turbine from rest
  • Provides assistance in shutting down the wind turbine under high wind conditions.
  • Low harmonic distortions, less than 5 %
  • Possible to add power generation capacity through modular approach. (up to 100 kW)

Smart Power Systems Inc.
www.smartpowerusa.com


Filed Under: Community wind
Tagged With: 25 kW, inverters, Smart Power Systems, SPS Pavan-25
 

About The Author

Paul Dvorak

Related Articles Read More >

4-turbine Maine wind project will power 4,500 homes annually
Greenbacker Renewable Energy adds 5-MW community wind project to portfolio
turbines
Hunt and Circle Power developing 20-MW wind projects in Michigan
A trio of reports highlight growth of wind energy in 2018

Podcasts

Wind Spotlight: Looking back at a year of Thrive with ZF Wind Power
See More >

Windpower Engineering & Development Digital Edition Archive

Digital Edition

Explore the full archive of digital issues of Windpower Engineering & Development, presented in a high-quality, user-friendly format. Access current and past editions, clip, share, and download valuable content from the industry’s leading wind power engineering resource.

Windpower Engineering & Development
  • Wind Articles
  • Solar Power World
  • Subscribe to Windpower Engineering
  • About Us/Contact Us

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising

Search Windpower Engineering & Development

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Most recent posts
    • News
    • Featured
  • Resources
    • Digital issues
    • Podcasts
    • Suppliers
    • Webinars
    • Events
  • Videos
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
  • Magazine
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe