New Industry Products

Satcon Launches EDGE Adaptive Control Architecture

November 20, 2011 by Jeff Shepard

Satcon Technology Corp. launched its EDGE™ Adaptive Control Architecture (ACA)™, now available for Satcon inverter solutions worldwide. Developed and deployed across many of the world’s most advanced utility scale solar installations, EDGE ACA enables instant voltage stabilization, frequency control, dynamic grid support, and secures the continuous operation of the PV plant in the event of dynamic ground faults, achieving the performance guidelines set forth by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW 2008 Grid Connection Standard).

"The power control features now available in EDGE ACA allow our inverter solutions to meet the BDEW standards, the industry’s most comprehensive set of requirements for grid stability and support," said Dr. Leo Casey, Chief Technology Officer of Satcon Technology Corporation. "These capabilities have been developed and demonstrated across multiple projects over the past four years, including our work with the United States Department of Energy (DOE) particularly on the Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS) projects, and with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on DOE funded projects where Satcon solutions have successfully addressed the challenges associated with integrating large scale solar to the grid."

As the intelligent control center for Satcon solutions, EDGE ACA enables improvements in total power plant reliability and yield through more powerful system monitoring, diagnostic, and remote control functionality. The enhanced capabilities help utilities and commercial customers prevent disruptive PV plant events from happening and enable rapid identification and resolution for issues that do occur. Faster communication speed, the addition of Controller Area Network (CAN), fiber optic communication and Ethernet hardware allow for advanced control of multiple inverters, which simplifies grid interconnection and permits higher penetrations of PV. Increased solution customization combined with the ability to easily integrate additional communications peripherals, remote programming functionality, and compatibility with all major communication options, enable greater solution flexibility driving significant project cost reductions.

"With EDGE ACA, Satcon solutions now deliver the industry’s most comprehensive supply side Smart Grid controls for PV plant owners and operators including low voltage ride through (LVRT) and anti-islanding, remote or site level control of average reactive power output, and optimization of feeder voltage profile under reactive power dispatch by the utility," continued Casey. "Through delivering an enhanced level of visibility and control over the solar power plant, EDGE ACA allows utilities to improve grid stability through the solar power assets on their network."

More news and information regarding the latest developments in Smart Grid electronics can be found at Darnell’s SmartGridElectronics.Net.