OSM Reclosers deployed as Renewable Connectors for 17MW Solar Power Station

Switchgear Engineers NOJA Power confirm the use of their OSM Recloser system to connect the Glynyany-2 Solar Power Station to the Medium Voltage Distribution grid at 35 kV near Lviv, Ukraine. The OSM Recloser serves as the primary connection point, providing protection, control and grid synchronisation between the Solar power output transformer and the local distribution grid.

The NOJA Power OSM Recloser system provides a suite of functionality for renewable and distributed energy generation connection in the standard product, including ANSI 25 Synchronism Check, Auto-Synchroniser and various frequency protection capabilities. This versatility allows the product to be quickly deployed to integrate grid scale solar power stations, minimising the commissioning and build time.

In the Glynyany-2 Application, the OSM Recloser is used both as the bus tie breaker between the solar power bays and the final connection point to the distribution grid.

As a further benefit for Solar designers, NOJA Power’s OSM Recloser system uses a Solid Dielectric insulation system, rather than the traditional SF6 gas insulation schemes. A single kilogram of SF6 is equivalent to 23,600 kilograms of CO2, with a half-life of 3,200 years in the atmosphere. As leaks from SF6 insulated equipment are routine, the greenhouse gas benefits of the renewable energy source are greatly offset by SF6 connection equipment. By using the OSM Recloser with a Solid Dielectric insulation system, this impact is removed, maximising the greenhouse gas mitigation of the renewable energy project.

Aside from environmental motivators, the selection of OSM Reclosers as the connection switchgear is strongly supported by the field performance of the devices, with a MTBF of greater than 800 years and a failure rate below 0.5%. With reliability of supply considered essential for the commercial success of the solar power station, the performance figures of the equipment met the desired specifications and offered a considerable cost saving in integration and commissioning time.

“Our OSM Reclosers are finding more and more application to connect large scale renewable energy to the distribution grid,” reports NOJA Power Group Managing Director Neil O’Sullivan. “With the embedded synchronisation functionality standard, the recloser provides a complete economical packaged solution for solar integrators.”

NOJA Power is committed to building innovative switchgear to support energy reliability and security the world over.