We are calling for distributed energy professionals and enthusiasts to help us find the right name for a component of our microgrid solution based on the ARDA DC Microgrid Platform. We would highly appreciate your help at this important moment for our company, as we are completing our first microgrid project in a commercial environment - the Burlington DC Microgrid Project, and as we are already negotiating new microgrid projects and preparing for formal market launch.
Since our microgrid solution is very novel, ARDA is finding it challenging to give the component in question a proper name based on the traditional industry terms. We want the name of the component to do the following:
- provide a simple and short reference in technical and marketing materials
- avoid confusing comparison to similar looking but differently functioning components of traditional systems
The component in question is shown as a red box on the Diagram as “DC breaker panel”. That panel is the consolidation point for the solution’s common bi-polar DC bus (nominal 760VDC) to which the Battery, Sources, Utility Grid and Loads are interconnected. Most often, this component will be installed in the electrical room of a building, and, in the case of replacement of AC loads with DC loads, it will simply be mounted in place of the replaced loads’ AC breaker panel. Depending on the microgrid size, there will be 1 or more of these components on site.
click to enlarge
In the first commercial version, the component contains the following hardware and functionality:
- nominal 760VDC (+/-380VDC) bus
- 1000VDC rated DC breakers for Batteries, Sources, Grid Inverter and 760VDC loads
- 500VDC rated DC breakers for 380VDC loads
- Enhanced Resiliency and Protection Infrastructure: a complex of arc flash detectors and ground fault monitoring ensuring the protection and seamless isolation of faulted sub-elements of the microgrid.
- slave controller for load management (in some cases can be located outside the component)
- Monitoring
The component does not include any of the microgrid’s power and energy management controls and related communication means, as the controls are performed exclusively from the energy storage system’s DCDC converters without separate wired or wireless communication lines.
In the pictures below you can see installation of this component at our Burlington DC Microgrid project. This is the first version of the component for commercial projects. Some of its features and functionalities are for the first demonstrations only, and the sizing and cost were not a priority in its design process. Therefore, after the next several projects, ARDA Power will be using much smaller and significantly less expensive versions, which will be designed by ARDA or co-designed with 3rd parties. We expect this component to be ultimately built for ARDA by the 3rd parties.
In the pictures below you can see installation of this component at our Burlington DC Microgrid project. This is the first version of the component for commercial projects. Some of its features and functionalities are for the first demonstrations only, and the sizing and cost were not a priority in its design process. Therefore, after the next several projects, ARDA Power will be using much smaller and significantly less expensive versions, which will be designed by ARDA or co-designed with 3rd parties. We expect this component to be ultimately built for ARDA by the 3rd parties.
Please kindly indicate which of the suggested names you would pick, or suggest an alternative name by forwarding this post to [email protected] with subject “Naming ARDA component” or by simply commenting to the post at ARDA Power's LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6239920750074044416/. Thank you in advance for your help.
