American Electric Technologies Inc. (AETI), a supplier of power delivery solutions for the traditional and renewable energy industries, has introduced a 40 kV wind farm switchgear to provide safer, more reliable wind farm operations.
By designing remote circuit-breaker racking, maintenance workers can rack the circuit breakers from a safe distance, according to the company. The switchgear also incorporates a ground-safety switch, interlocked with the circuit breaker, enabling the operator to ground incoming cables during maintenance, therefore reducing exposure to accidental electrical back feed, AETI says.
In addition, AETI's wind farm switchgear provides protection for high-impedance faults, where fault currents may not reach the required level to trip conventional breaker trip settings. The system uses light-sensing technology to detect the arc-flash and sends a signal to open the circuit breaker, isolating the arc-fault within approximately 50 milliseconds.
AETI's switchgear provides 40 kV power distribution at 3,000 amperes continuous duty, enabling more wind power to be delivered to the grid per collector line. The switchgear also has a 40 kiloampere interrupting rating, enabling wind farm developers to connect to high-capacity power grids, according to the company.
SOURCE: American Electric Technologies Inc.
