Beijing Wind to Power Renewable Energy Equipment Co. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wind to Power System S.L. announced the realization of multiple key milestones today during a VIP LVRT Seminar for key industry officials and politicians. The seminar was held at the Spanish Embassy in Beijing with Alberto Carbajo, Director General for Operations of Red Eléctrica de España (REE), Spain´s equivalent to State Grid Corp, who attended as guest speaker. The guest list included participants from CEPRI, NEPRI, Huaneng Group, CECIC, Guohua Energy Investment, CGNPC, CGC, Tsinghua University, North China Electric Power University, CWEEA and some 10 representatives from domestic industry press and media.
"There are many parallels between China and Spain. Some years ago we introduced similar grid-codes to ensure the integrity of the grid and improve power quality. I am convinced the LVRT solutions of w2pS can play as important a role in the wind sector in China as they did in Spain." said Alberto of REE.
Integration of distributed generation and intermittent power sources such as wind and solar presents a whole new range of technical challenges from a grid perspective. In 2009, w2pS successfully secured a market share of 40% in Spain, then the world´s most mature and first LVRT retrofit market for wind energy. In 2010, w2pS became the first and only certified provider of independent LVRT solutions in Germany. To date, the company has deployed close to 2GW of its equipment across multiple markets. w2pS has a suite of proven grid integration products based on proprietary technology that deliver LVRT and reactive power capability at both wind turbine and plant levels. w2pS also supplies solar inverters, monitoring, control systems and advanced utility scale integrated PV solutions.
In December 2011 the company successfully finished testing of its CoverDip 1650 solution for LVRT compensation with Northeast Electric Power Research Institute (NEPRI) in Chi Feng, Inner Mongolia. This is an important milestone for w2pS.
"w2ps has supplied us two DipGen on-site LVRT testing units that have already proven their value. We have performed multiple test procedures in the field in record time. During one of these procedures w2pS´s CoverDip 1650 unit successfully passed the test and the certificate will be issued soon," said Chen Junjie, Deputy Chief Engineer of NEPRI.
The tested machine which was manufactured in Spain is basically identical to the new CoverDip 1650 which w2pS has now started manufacturing in China. The company selected two experienced manufacturing partners in Jiangsu late 2011. The localization process has been completed with many key components having been replaced by components from leading Chinese domestic suppliers.
"Our first LVRT unit made in China was installed at a wind-farm in Inner Mongolia last week. Today we are very proud to share our achievements with such an illustrious audience. In a market where localization is fundamental to our success it is important to recognize that without the support of some of these companies we would never have got this far," said David Tuohy, CEO of w2pS.
w2pS started testing the new CoverDip 1650 unit last week at its test-site in Inner Mongolia using its own DipGen testing truck which was brought over from Spain last month. When the testing is complete w2pS plans to rent the voltage dip generation testing equipment to EPRI´s in China. To date w2pS has sold four DipGens of which two have been delivered to NEPRI and one to Jilin EPRI. The remaining unit which is currently under construction will be delivered to North China EPRI (NCEPRI) in the near future. This fully automated medium voltage DipGen will be the first of its kind delivered in China. Another important milestone in the history of w2pS.
About Wind to Power System S.L. w2pS is a global power electronics company focused on grid integration of renewable energy and power quality. Founded in 2008 in Spain, the company now has operations in Germany, Italy, Portugal and China. The company has a suite of proven grid integration products providing low voltage ride-through (LVRT) capability, reactive power control, solar inverters, utility scale integrated PV solutions and monitoring systems. w2pS is owned by Hudson Clean Energy Partners L.P., a leading global private equity fund focused on renewable energy. Hudson has offices in New York, London and Beijing. Further information about w2pS can be found at www.w2pS.es.
About Red Eléctrica de España S.A., founded in 1985 by application of Law 49/1984, REE was the first company in the world exclusively dedicated to the transmission of electricity and the operation of electricity systems. REE, as system operator, guarantees the continuity and security of the electricity supply maintaining the constant balance between generation and consumption in Spain, and it performs these functions under the principles of transparency, objectiveness and independence. In addition, REE is the manager of the transmission grid and acts as sole transmission agent in Spain. Further information about REE can be found at www.ree.es.
