Shown (at the right of the two) in the photo, this is the third Aurora inverter installed.
The first--slow to start up even when its parallel partner at the left was sending electricity to the grid last year--failed around midnight on May 19th, 2010. Sent back to Power One in California, after three weeks they had no answer as to why it failed. So the contractor asked for a replacement inverter to be sent. After several weeks it arrived and was programmed and wired parallel, only to discover it had an "internal fault". Power One was again contacted by Paul Wende of Energy West Power, who insisted a new 6 kw Aurora inverter be put onto Air Express to mitigate this lengthy downtime.
The third Aurora 6 kw inverter arrived Thursday, was immediately programmed, then installed Friday. We're finally up and running again.
Of the changes made, contractor Paul Wende stated "we have implemented an independent braking function so that when the controller senses either a certain RPM, or voltage, or windspeed, or turbine head temperature, that it will apply the 10 kw dumpload in parallel with turbine output, thus loading the turbine and dissipating excess energy." He added: "We basically installed four new wires."
And early the next day, Paul said 16 kilowatts had been produced since Midnight.
"Thank goodness we have another fan going in this heat," pants Kia.
Very cool.
ReplyDeleteBTW, we miss you over on palmsnorth. --Erik