Northern Power Systems to Supply Solar Power Systems for North American Earthquake Monitoring Experiment
Thursday January 27, 3:19 pm ET
Stand-Alone Systems Will Power Seismometer Sites Across United States As Part of National Science Foundation EarthScope Experiment
biz.yahoo.com
WAITSFIELD, Vt., Jan. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Northern Power Systems, a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: DESC - News), has been awarded a contract to supply 30 of its TeleSol(TM) photovoltaic (PV) power systems for the USArray component of EarthScope, an experiment that will explore the structure and evolution of the North American continent and the physical processes controlling earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The stand-alone TeleSol solar power systems will provide power where commercial power is not available for seismometer sites across the United States that comprise the USArray facility.
Operated by IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutes for Seismology) and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the EarthScope USArray facility is made up of hundreds of transportable as well as permanent seismometers. USArray will monitor seismicity in the continental U.S. in order to provide new insight and new data to address fundamental questions in earthquake physics, volcanic processes, core-mantle interactions, and continental structure and evolution.
"It is our hope that experiments like EarthScope will enable the world's scientific community to better understand earthquakes and the underlying factors that cause them and, ultimately, contribute to better early warning systems and processes," said Northern President, Jito Coleman.
Northern's cost effective design organizes the systems into four separate region - specific-sized configurations, each of which system consists of an environmentally conditioned enclosure, a solar array, a battery bank, and proprietary Northern power controls, remote monitoring/SCADA software, and electronics.
"Small loads from 50 through 400 watts are economically served though Northern's standalone TeleSol PV product, and the seismometer applications in the USArray project fit in this category," notes Michael Brennan, Vice President of Industrial Infrastructure at Northern. "The TeleSol product provides high-reliability, utility grade power with no genset fueling or maintenance requirement, factors which will be important in the USArray facility."
Depending on the load capacity of the particular system, Northern's TeleSol systems come with a Northern SC-50, or SC-100 System Controller. The SC-50 uses a commercial off-the-shelf controller for its core logic, while the SC-100 utilizes a custom - programmed PLC-based controller. The SC-100 is typically used for larger loads or at the request of the customer.
According to Jon Howell, Northern's Telecom Sales Manager, the challenge in designing the solar power systems that will be located and relocated throughout the continental United States was to properly size the system. "Our design has to ensure the system will function effectively under varying solar and environmental conditions and do so efficiently and cost effectively," said Howell. "The only significant differences between the four configurations are the size of the solar array and the degree of environmental protection."
"Northern's demonstrated design experience and thorough up-front planning, combined with the company's long track record of providing high-quality turnkey power solutions, were critical in our contract award decision," notes Robert Busby, Chief of Operations for USArray at IRIS. "The TeleSol systems will be an important contributing factor in helping to make successful the USArray facility of the EarthScope experiment." |
