Wind Power
Tech, MSU Researchers
Aim to Demonstrate
Distributed Wind Generation/Storage System
Montana
has many remote industrial sites, including mining operations, that require electrical
power resulting in long radial electrical distribution lines. Because the capacity
of these radial lines is often limited, it is necessary to consider how future
load additions will be served.
Two possible alternatives are:
1) the size of the lines could be increased, at considerable cost; or 2) distributed
generation could be installed at appropriate points along the lines near the loads.
When costs of building or up-grading transmission lines are weighed against the
costs of distributed generation, it is easy to envision cases where distributed
generation would be more cost effective. In addition to economic concerns, questions
regarding power quality, reliability, storage and stability need to be addressed
in the design and operation of distributed generation/storage systems. Because
of the unique power requirements of an industrial site, the distributed generation/storage
needs of such sites are much different than those of residential, agricultural,
or urban sites.
Researchers from Montana Tech and
Montana State University hope to demonstrate and analyze the impacts and potential
benefits of a distributed wind generation/storage system connected to a rural
radial industrial electrical distribution line.
Novel
control strategies for maximizing distribution system benefits of a wind generation/storage
system will be developed. The project includes the development and application
of new wind generation, storage, and control technologies. Testing and demonstration
is being conducted at the Luzenac Renewable Energy Park located adjacent to the
Luzenac America Yellowstone talc mine 20 miles south of Ennis, Montana, near the
Madison River. The park is connected to the radial distribution line near the
mine.
The site was selected because it
has many of the characteristics of a critically loaded radial line. The mine is
at the end of a 12-kV distribution line, which extends approximately 16 miles
from a 50-kV substation. The radial line also serves several ranches with large
irrigation loads.
As of July 2000, the researchers—Dan
Trudnowski and David Westine of Montana Tech, and D. Pierre of Montana State University—
were halfway through the first year of the project. The project has started with
computer analysis in the first year and will extend to a full demonstration by
the third year.
For more information on the project, see the 1999 report, or e-mail Dan
Trudnowski.
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