Princeton Power Systems (PPS) has received a $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to accelerate development of its inverter technology for utility-scale wind power installations.
The award is through the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office Xlerator program.
The company will use the funds to continue development of its Distributed Generation TransformerTM and E-QUAD Power Flow ControlTM technologies.
The company says combining a megawatt-scale converter topology with a high-frequency nanocrystalline-core transformer and silicon switching devices will result in a unique power converter that will control the generator, condition power, and transform it to transmission-level voltages in a single package.
This coul significantly reduce the overall size and cost of the power conditioning system while increasing the conversion efficiency.
In addition, Princeton Power says its multi-port E-QUAD Power Flow ControlTM architecture can incorporate energy storage to provide grid support functions including frequency regulation, low-voltage ride-through, and giving wind farms access to full capacity credit. The technology is expected to reduce the cost of balance of plant components like transformers and enable new generator technologies to get to market faster.
"Development and deployment of these power conversion technologies is aimed at facilitating higher penetration rates for on and offshore windpower by removing grid integration barriers," said Darren Hammell, Executive Vice President of PPS.
While originally developed for the early-stage tidal and wave power markets, the technology can have a more near-term impact on the more established and larger windpower markets.
Loading...