Availon GmbH, a cross-brand provider of wind turbine generator (WTG) services, has signed a major contract with the Japanese firm EOS Engineering & Service Co., Ltd. for the supply of 80 grid coupling contactors.
A subsidiary of Japan Wind Development Co., LTD, which was founded in 1999, EOS Engineering & Service Co., LTD. is an internationally active company focusing on wind turbine maintenance & service.
The framework agreement for the supply of grid coupling contactors for 80 WTGs with 1.5 MW each was signed by EOS Engineering & Service in mid-October 2012. This new contract underpins Availon’s long standing commitment to the growing Asian emerging wind markets.
Availon designed the contactor as an upgrade for 1.5 MW WTGs with double-fed asynchronous generators four years ago. Built to last for up to 250,000 switching cycles, the contactor takes over the regular switching processes that are normally handled by the main circuit breaker of a WTG. The latter consequently only serves as a protection device, and is so constantly relieved.
Maintenance intervals for the main circuit breaker can be extended as well, since installing a grip coupling contactor reduces wear on the component. Moreover, the added switching component reduces the risk of expensive damage to the frequency converter if the main switch does not cut out correctly.
“Prior to the contract being signed, in-depth testing was carried out on two grid coupling contactors which we supplied to the Japanese customer. To get things started properly, six months ago we travelled to Kyushu, the southern-most of Japan’s main islands, to help EOS Engineering & Service technicians familiarize themselves with the installation of our grid coupling contactors,” says Availon Product Manager Ralf Nuesse.
“In the past years, many of our customers have opted to install grid coupling contactors in their WTGs. Already in 2010, for example, Deutsche Immobilien-Leasing GmbH was commissioned by 14 operating companies to sign a framework agreement with us on the supply of 81 grid coupling contactors. Early this year ENEL, the Italian utility company, also ordered 40 contactors from us, which we installed in their 1.5 MW WTGs in Italy ourselves,” Ralf Nuesse explains further.
