Smart Power Grid

May 2015

Improving efficiency and reducing costs in solar inverters

Jon Firth & James Kerr, Microsemi

A niche market only a few years ago, the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry is now becoming a mainstream electricity provider, and changing the way the world is powered. Following a difficult period of industry consolidation and economic crisis, PV installations saw another record year in 2013, with more than 38

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Date:

05/29/2015

Advances in energy-harvesting power conversion

Frederik Dostal, Analog Devices

Energy harvesting has been around for a very long time. I still remember my 1980s pocket calculator with a solar cell powering the computing unit as well as the LCD display. But even much before that, usable energy was harvested in the early days of the electrical revolution with putting generators on river mi

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Date:

05/29/2015

Grid collaboratives enhance power utilization

Jack Shandle, Mouser Electronics

The distributed intelligence that has been the defining characteristic of the Smart Grid can do more than enable smart homes and help utilities distribute power more efficiently. These two well-known advantages will be enhanced by two revolutionary changes at the edge of the power grid. The first change is

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Date:

05/29/2015

Designing the future

Alix Paultre, Editorial Director, PSD

Designing the future

Alix Paultre, Editorial Director, PSD

The first modern wave of rapid human development, also known as the first industrial revolution, began in the middle of the 18th century. The development of devices that could be used to magnify a human’s capabilities immediately changed the face of the planet, impacting everything from agriculture to warfare. T

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05/29/2015

Designing for optimum power conversion

Tobias Gerber, Infineon Technologies

Today’s power conversion and power management applications demand compact yet robust power switching circuitry that supports high-voltage, high-frequency operation with the minimum of losses from the smallest possible PCB area. By definition, the choice of MOSFET technology has a significant impact on how su

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Date:

05/29/2015

Solving the energy crisis in West Africa

The frequent power shortages currently happening in West Africa are causing a significant human and economic development slow-down and have forced ECOWAS’ Governments to initiate several measures to remedy the energy crisis. Nigerian government recently announced that a 10MW capacity wind farm, the large

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Date:

05/28/2015

RCDC von Infineon kombiniert IGBT und Dioden-Funktion auf einem Chip (German Language PSDtv)

In diesem Episode von PSDtv Infineon zeigen Ihre neuesten Power Solution für Power Systems Design beim PCIM 2015. Das neue Gerät ist eine rückwärts leitender IGBT mit Dioden Überwachung - RCDC kombiniert IGBT und Dioden-Funktion auf einem Chip. Diese neue Technologie folgt den Schlüssel-Anforde

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Date:

05/28/2015

Towards a new era in power electronics

Jim Witham, CEO, GaN Systems

Towards a new era in power electronics

Jim Witham, CEO, GaN Systems

GaN material offers orders of magnitude improvement in switching and conduction performance and, when produced on GaN-on-Silicon substrates, can reduce power system costs. Only diamond power semiconductors have been proposed as a superior material system to GaN, but the consensus is that we are decades aw

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Date:

05/28/2015

Optimizing foil windings for power magnetics

Dr. Ray Ridley, President, Ridley Engineering

As power levels are increased and output voltages drop, it is common to have just a few turns in the windings of inductors and transformers. When this happens, standard round wires are usually not the best choice for building magnetic structures, and foil is often used. With a foil winding, the width of the fo

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Date:

05/28/2015

Western Power Distribution case study

Ben Godfrey, WPD

New carbon emission targets are driving significant changes around how electricity is generated, transported and consumed in the United Kingdom. With the increase in small-scale generation technology onto the network, DNO's are met with great challenges to facilitate a future low carbon network. As one of sev

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Date:

05/28/2015

Designing efficient energy systems

Tom Colella, Electrocube

We thought it would be helpful to assemble a top five list of the most common mistakes or “don’ts” that occur during the design of efficient power systems – and how to avoid them. This information comes from our observations and yes, some of our own experiences during Electrocube’s 50-plus years in th

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Date:

05/28/2015

Boost system performance with the right DC/DC converter

Meng He, Maxim Integrated

Did you know that every 10°C rise in ambient temperature reduces every component’s lifetime by 50%? That power supplies with drop-offs or variances can lead to premature failures and even completely fried parts in your system? Indeed, most agree that power-intensive applications need, and really must have, lo

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Date:

05/28/2015

Digital power system management

Tony Armstrong, Linear Technology

System architects of embedded systems, networking, and datacom equipment are constantly being pushed to increase the data throughput and performance of their systems as well as add functionality and features. At the same time, pressure is being applied to decrease the system’s overall power consumption. For ex

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Date:

05/28/2015

Energy management smartens up

Mike Ballard, Oracle EMEA

There is near-consensus in the UK that smart grids and smart meters will substantially advance the way energy networks operate in the coming years. According to a recent report, more than two-thirds of utilities executives expect the benefits of the smart grid to actually be greater than the industry’s original ex

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Date:

05/28/2015

GaN Systems shows their latest wide-bandgap products at PCIM 2015 (PSDtv)

In this episode of PSDtv GaN Systems goes over their latest wide-bandgap power solutions and packaging for Power Systems Design at PCIM 2015. In addition to their new top-cooling packages, the company also shows some of the advanced products using their devices. GaN Systems

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Date:

05/27/2015

Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen acquires Amantys' IP & brands

Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen (MR) acquired all industrial property rights, including patents and brands, of Amantys, along with the bulk of the company's technical facilities and equipment. MR, a traditional family-run company headquartered in Regensburg, Germany, is a leader in the regulation of power transformers wit

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Date:

05/26/2015

Catalyst solar prize competition announces 5 winners

The five winning Catalyst prize competitors pose with their award checks at Demo Day in San Francisco

Catalyst solar prize competition announces 5 winners

Five solar start-up companies were named winners at SunShot Catalyst prize competition Demo Day on May 14 in San Francisco. The winners -- Gridmates, PVComplete, Savenia Solar Ratings, Solar Site Design, and UtilityAPI -- each took home $30,000 prizes to help advance their early-stage solutions towards commercialization. Th

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Date:

05/26/2015

Vishay Intertechnology's latest fast body diode N-channel MOSFETs enhance performance in soft-switching topologies

600 V EF Series fast body diode n-channel power MOSFETs

Vishay Intertechnology's latest fast body diode N-channel MOSFETs enhance performance in soft-switching topologies

Vishay Intertechnology introduced three new devices in its new 600 V EF Series of fast body diode n-channel power MOSFETs. With low reverse recovery charge and on-resistance, the Vishay Siliconix SiHx21N60EF, SiHx47N60EF, and SiHx70N60EF increase reliability and save energy in industrial, telecom, computing, an

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Date:

05/26/2015

SEIA supports legislation to increase government use of renewables

Today, the U.S. solar industry employs 174,000 Americans nationwide

SEIA supports legislation to increase government use of renewables

Saying it will “benefit both the economy and environment,” the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has announced its strong support for legislation introduced by Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), allowing the General Services Administration (GSA) to enter into 30-year renewable energy power purchase agreements (P

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Date:

05/15/2015

NREL highlights 2014 Utility Green Power Leaders

The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released its assessment of leading utility green power programs. Using information provided by utilities, NREL has developed "Top 10" rankings of utility green power programs for 2014 in the following categories: total sales of

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Date:

05/14/2015

Instant data management enables smart grids to maximize efficiency

There are multiple pressures on the power supply network. More people are using it, established customers are consuming ever more electricity, and the pressure to reduce carbon emissions from power generation is increasing. Part of the solution to this dilemma will lie in developing smart grids that provide be

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Date:

05/14/2015

8.7 GW in upcoming PJM retirements could disrupt power markets

PJM Retirements by Fuel Type and Retirement Date

8.7 GW in upcoming PJM retirements could disrupt power markets

Over 1.4 GW of capacity is set to retire in the month of May in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection (PJM). These retirements are followed by another round scheduled for June 1, 2015, when over 7.3 GW of capacity is schedule to ramp offline. Should any of the units slated to retire on June 1 co

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Date:

05/13/2015

Energy Institute launches annual awards competition

The Energy Institute (EI)'s annual awards competition is now open and the EI is calling for entries from all sectors of the global energy industry. These awards, run by the EI for over 15 years, celebrate the best of the energy sector, highlighting the invaluable contribution that the industry makes to society. Ian Marchant F

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Date:

05/11/2015

Signed Energy Act sets tone for upcoming energy legislation debates

Energy consumption per capita in the United States

Signed Energy Act sets tone for upcoming energy legislation debates

The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015, which President Obama signed into law on April 30, will add momentum to falling energy consumption per capita in the United States by reducing energy demand from commercial buildings, manufacturing plants, and homes. The relatively uncontroversial bill garnered bi

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Date:

05/11/2015

Tesla throws down energy gauntlet with Powerwall

Tesla Powerwall

Tesla throws down energy gauntlet with Powerwall

Power Systems Design has long predicted that energy storage would be the next major development in power electronics, from portable devices to grid-level infrastructures. From American Vanadium's CellCube energy storage system to Princeton Power's energy management technology, most approaches PSD has seen targeted

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Date:

05/04/2015

Cree to introduce their latest 900V SiC MOSFETs at PCIM 2015

Cree, a leading supplier of silicon carbide (SiC) based power products, will introduce its new 900V SiC MOSFETs at PCIM 2015 in Nuremberg, Germany, which takes place May 19 to 21. At the show, Europe's leading meeting-point for specialists in power electronics and its applications in intelligent motion, renewable ene

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Date:

05/04/2015

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