American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC), a leading energy technologies company, today announced that it has received an order for its D-VAR (“STATCOM”) reactive compensation solution from Basin Electric Power Cooperative (Basin Electric), one of the largest electric generation and transmission cooperatives in the United States.
AMSC will deploy the turnkey D-VAR solution near Wright, Wyoming. Basin Electric will utilize the D-VAR system to provide steady state and transient voltage support to maintain transmission system stability and reliability in the region. It will have a continuous rating of 34 mega-volt-amperes reactive (MVAR) and a short-term rating of 91 MVAR, making it one of the largest STATCOMs ever deployed in the North American transmission grid. The system is expected to be operational in Basin Electric’s power grid by the end of calendar 2009.
D-VAR reactive compensation systems are classified as Static Compensators, or “STATCOMs,” a member of the FACTS (Flexible AC-Transmission System) family of power electronic solutions for alternating current (AC) power grids. They are able to detect and instantaneously compensate for voltage disturbances by dynamically injecting leading or lagging reactive power into the power grid. AMSC has received orders for over 60 STATCOM power grid solutions worldwide, more than all other manufacturers combined. The company’s STATCOM customers include more than 20 electric utilities and 40 wind farms.
AMSC’s D-VAR system was designed with flexibility in mind to address the many voltage and VAR-related problems seen on the grid. Electric utilities adopt these systems to avoid voltage collapse on transmission and distribution lines, increase power transfer through stability-limited systems, reduce the use of (or retire) reliability-must-run generators and mitigate industrial voltage transients. Wind farm developers adopt D-VAR solutions to meet the stringent power grid requirements being adopted in an increasing number of locations around the world for dynamic voltage regulation, power factor correction and post-contingency assistance at wind farms.