ACEP Supports Novel Inverter Control Strategy

In 2018, Intergrid LLC, an inverter startup company based in Temple, New Hampshire, received the grand prize laboratory testing award in the Alaska Center for Microgrid Technologies commercialization competition. Intergrid is using new switching technology to create a more efficient and compact inverter. An inverter takes direct current power, for example from a battery, and converts it to 60-hertz alternating current power which can be used to power electrical loads on a grid. An inverter can be combined with energy storage to enable a microgrid to use more renewable energy and burn less fuel.

A challenge with adding an energy storage system to a microgrid is getting all the controls to work together. As part of this project, ACEP is working with Intergrid to minimize this challenge by using a Woodward easYgen as the front-end controller for an energy storage system with the Intergrid inverter. EasYgen controllers are commonly used on diesel generator fleets in Alaska, including the one in ACEP's lab. Using the same controller will simplify the process of integrating an energy storage system into an existing diesel microgrid.

In support of this project, research engineer Jeremy VanderMeer recently attended a training on easYgen controllers at the Woodward headquarters in Fort Collins, Colorado.

 

An easYgen device is housed in ACEP's Power Systems Integration Lab . Photo by Jeremy Vandermeer,