American Superconductor Corp. (AMSC, Westborough, MA) announced that it has been selected by Windtec Engineering GmbH (Klagenfurt, Austria) to supply its PowerModule™ PM1000 power electronic converters for a new 1.5 MW wind turbine generator control system being developed. The PowerModule™ PM1000 converters and developer kit provide a platform to quickly develop both hardware and software elements of power conversion systems ranging from 60 kW to multi-megawatts.
Integrated with Windtec's equipment, the PM1000 system manages and stabilizes electricity produced by wind turbine generators while the wind driving the turbines varies in speed, enabling wind turbine generators to supply steady power to the electricity grid over a broad range of fluctuating wind conditions.
The use of the PowerModule PM1000 as a system level solution to address the needs of small wind farms (less than 10 MW) complements AMSC's product offering of the D-VAR® voltage regulation system for larger wind farms. Each wind turbine generator control system that AMSC supplies to Windtec comprises a PM1000 line-side converter and a PM1000 generator-side converter. Synchronized operation of the two units is coordinated through high-speed controlled area network communications.
