With the eyes of the world focused firmly on the official start of the 22nd Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, there could scarcely be a greater reliance on the energy infrastructure to keep the lights burning. With an estimated load of 1000MW, double Sochi's typical daily load, and a host of new thermal power plants and other smaller localised power sources, grid stability becomes a significant issue. Fortunately for Winter sports fans everywhere, Parker Hannifin's Power Conversion System (PCS) will be at the heart of managing power fluctuations and helping to prevent outages throughout the course of the games.
Working in partnership with EnerDel, a leader in utility-scale lithium-ion battery energy storage systems, Parker Hannifin's Energy Grid Tie Division supplied one of its highly efficient and compact PCS systems as part of a 1.5 megawatt, 2.5 megawatt-hour installation connecting large banks of battery energy storage to the grid, smoothing out fluctuations and supplying back-up power for the local substations that will support the games.
The system includes Parker's patented precision cooling technology, which increases the throughput of high-power electronics by up to 40 per cent, representing the most efficient and compact option available across a wide range of energy applications. Parker also provided other ancillary equipment such as outdoor battery enclosures, complete with climate control, fire suppression and monitoring systems.
In addition to the Sochi energy storage system, Parker also built, delivered, and commissioned an identical 1.5 megawatt PCS for EnerDel's 2.5 megawatt-hour energy storage project in the city of St. Petersburg.
As the primary microgrid market continues to develop and grow, Parker and EnerDel will continue to combine their integration experience to provide these kinds of systems worldwide. Parker's expertise in power electronics, combined with EnerDel's Gen III 600V DC and 1200V DC modules, ensures Tier 1 system performance, product quality and post-sale support.
To find out more about Parker's Power Conversion System (PCS), please go to www.parker.com.