Caribbean island lights up with OPS renewable energy technology

Optimal Power Solutions has commissioned a unique hybrid power project in the Caribbean islands as of late April 2010.

Renewable energy is well positioned to address increasing energy supply concerns in the Caribbeans. Environmental concerns regarding diesel and fossil-fuel transportation have come to the forefront of political debate as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to cause catastrophic damage. Furthermore, the landed cost of diesel is highly vulnerable to future price spikes and diesel is therefore a risky financial choice as the primary source of energy supply for off-grid requirements. Fortunately, the Caribbeans offer immense potential for new, off-grid renewable projects due to the plentiful solar and wind resource availability.

OPS is pleased to have provided the system integration for this hybrid renewable system that includes solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, diesel generators and proprietary OPS power conversion technology.

This project compromises 2 x 300 kW Hybrid Power Conditioning (HPC) inverters. Our HPC product provides a complete tecnological solution for off-grid renewable energy systems. This unit can operate in parallel with the generators to meet peak loads and features a flexible operating platform for integrating other balance of system components, in this case, the solar PV, wind-turbines and battery storage.

Renewable components of this system include 8 x 15 kW wind turbines and approximately 240 kWp of solar PV that utilise two large capacity OPS Maximum Power Point Tracker’s. In addition, the system utilizes 3 x 312 kVA diesel gensets and a 360 v battery bank rated at 6000 Ah, capable of providing 2.16 MWh of energy storage. The AC system sources are switched through a customised AC switching cabinet that is rated at 1.5 MW. In addition, OPS supplied a Station Control Module that incorporates local and remote access to the system.

To view more images of this project, please click on one of the images below or visit the Caribbeans Project page at our Flickr website here.