Location: UK
Industry: Anaerobic Digester Plant
Installation date: July 2024
Partner: EnergyAce
Background
Rainbarrow Farm, located in Dorset, UK, currently provides enough renewable gas to power 3,500 homes and renewable electricity to power 628 homes, making it one of the biggest renewable energy generators in Dorset. Owned by ENGIE UK, the facility transforms organic waste into green biomethane gas through a process known as anaerobic digestion (AD). When the farm began experiencing a lot of unexplainable electrical issues including the premature failure of inverters, and temperamental soft starters, the customer reached out to Comsys partner EnergyAce, a national award winning energy management company.
Challenge
The main challenge was to identify the root cause of the problems that the farm was facing, then to put a solution together to solve them. Soft starters were stopping unexpectedly, and variable speed drives were failing prematurely. EnergyAce carried out a detailed Harmonic Study and was able to identify that the THDv was 8.7% and that High Harmonics were the main cause of issues on site.
Solution
Based on the results of the study, a system integration solution consisting of 1 x 125A Comsys ADF active harmonic filters, built into a cabinet by EnergyAce, was suggested. Comsys’ Active Dynamic Filters have a very informative and easy to read display, so the customer could instantly see how the ADF was performing. In addition, the ADF products were technically superior to the other competing active harmonic filters that the customer had researched.
Results
Once installed and put into operation, the ADF solution reduced the THDv to within acceptable limits, from 8.7% down to 4.7%, and all issues with intermittent soft starters not operating correctly were solved. The customer was very happy with the installation and commented that the engineers were very pleasant and efficient. Since the installation of the ADF solution, the farm’s issues pretty much disappeared overnight and its engineering team were able to instead focus on providing renewable power to the wider community.
PPM300
The ADF PPM300 inverter module is one of the key components of the ADF System Integration Program. Designed for easy integration into electrical cabinets and motor control centers, this component enables you to build your own active harmonic filter or low harmonic solution.
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Modular building capability
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Compact design, ideal for small spaces
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Able to accommodate many different sizes of compensation equipment
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Fixed switching frequency
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Available with air-cooling or liquid-cooling