Power Monitors has created a solution for controlling small to mid-sized distributed energy resource (DER) implementations.
“We were approached by engineers at several IOUs asking if we had a solution for controlling their customer’s small and mid-size PV and wind systems. The recloser and equipment rack used for large megawatt systems don’t scale down for smaller systems on the distribution network,” said Chris Mullins, executive VP. “Our engineering team used the knowledge gained from decades of utility PQ monitor design and cell communications experience to very quickly bring the Eclipse to market.”
Utilities are seeing a surge in commercial PV and small solar farms in their service territories. In larger systems, a recloser and a cabinet of equipment are used to control a DER connection to the grid. Due to the cost of equipment and labor involved in deployment, this method does not scale well for small to mid-sized deployments.
The Eclipse is packed with features in a small package. Small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, the Eclipse is weatherproof, line powered and uses advanced LTE cell communications for bringing a SCADA system to anywhere in a distribution system. It includes two Form C dry contact outputs and 120-V digital inputs for inverter control and status monitoring. Optional 3-phase voltage, current and power monitoring allow for tracking inverter power output and voltage regulation impact on the distribution network. The Eclipse is also compatible with Canvass, PMI’s cloud-based email/SMS alerting and data storage and analytics system.
In short, the Eclipse is the most advanced, integrated and cost-effective method available for remote control, management and monitoring of small to mid-sized DER installations.