Trace UL and stupidity [RE-wrenches]

Lawrence Elliott larry at energyoutfitters.com
Sat Nov 24 14:52:13 PST 2001


Drake mentioned that the lockable disconnect should be a simple
mechanical solution to islanding hazards.
According to my conversations with the local head of engineering for the
utility this lockable disconnect is as useful and necessary as seat
belts and shoulder harness on a toilet seat located in an earthquake
zone. Don't laugh. Supplied with enough theoretical data,charts and
graphs, and a good PowerPoint presentation mind numbed regulators could
make this the law.
The engineer stated: I quote: "You have to be kidding. When we have an
outage from storms or accidents the last thing we want to do is further
burden our overworked linemen. There's  no way we would go to each house
or business, even if we had a current location list ,and set a
disconnect yet alone supply locks and keys".
When I asked why they were required he shrugged and said "I guess that's
just how all this stuff has to work doesn't it".

Yes! The king has no clothes".
But do we really have to, as an industry, put up with the utilities
naked  attempt at obstruction and suppression??
Remember the early requirement for the ground wires on inverters to be
as large as the largest conductors in the system Giant 4/0 lugs on every
Trace.
Initially only a few brave voices in the wilderness challenged this
"technically proven" requirement.  It was being voiced and approved by
all the "knowledgeable experts" including our very own self appointed
690 guru, (take a wild guess)  yet it is now a dead issue.
Is it now dead because of a sudden change in the basic laws of physics
and electrical principles? Of course not. We just bitched loud enough
and challenged authority to simply "prove up or shut up".

Larry Elliott


----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Wills" <RWills at AdvancedEnergy.com>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Cc: "Mark Robinson (E-mail)" <MRobinson at AdvancedEnergy.com>; "Tim Gordon
(E-mail)" <tgordon at AdvancedEnergy.com>; "Stuart Holbrook (E-mail)"
<sholbrook at AdvancedEnergy.com>; "Daniel TwoEagles (E-mail)"
<daniel at AdvancedEnergy.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2001 1:12 PM
Subject: RE: Trace UL and stupidity [RE-wrenches]


> Drake - there are really two sides to this argument:
>

>
> The bottom line is that active anti-islanding technology is available
and
> works well - it comes down to software techniques that control
inverter
> power output in response to changes in grid voltage and frequency,
that make
> an island unstable but are invisible when the grid is connected.  We
have a
> patent on that if you are interested..
>
> www.uspto.gov  The Patent Number is 6,219,623.
>
> Regards
>
> Rob Wills
> VP Technology
> Advanced Energy
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Drake Chamberlin - Electrical Energy
> [mailto:solar at eagle-access.net]
> Sent: Friday, November 23, 2001 1:02 PM
> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> Subject: Re: Trace UL and stupidity [RE-wrenches]
>
>
> Wrenches,
>
>
> These inverters have been getting installed on grid interactive
systems for
> years.  Have there been any problems?  (Trace-Xantrex doesn't seem to
think
> so).  Have any linemen been hurt?  Don't the standard safety
procedures of
> grounding power lines, before working on them, negate any potential
> islanding hazard?
>
> The required, lockable utility disconnect switch is supposed to be a
fail
> safe against any problems resulting from the possibility that an
inverter
> might not de energize when the grid goes down.  They are theoretically
> required as a remedy for this specific issue.  Isn't this a simple
> mechanical solution, implemented specifically to address this
potential
> hazard?
>
> Does anyone know how long an inverter can island under perfect,
f"balanced
> load" conditions?  How long are such conditions likely to last in real
> installations?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Drake
>
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