Wind Farms Rely on SEL Metering

摘要

Looking across the west Texas plain, it doesn't take long to spot the stately giants. With their 150-foot fiberglass blades flashing in the sun, hundreds of wind turbines dot the landscape, pumping out megawatts with a gentle whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. These turbines are among the largest in America, standing 345 feet to the hub. The blades make about 21 revolutions per minute in a stiff breeze, with the tips reaching nearly 100 mph. Twenty-one turbines make up Enel North America's Snyder Wind Project, and at full speed, they can generate 63 megawatts of power. Measuring a wind farm's energy input and output requires accuracy, flexibility, and reliability. Snyder Wind Farm engineers selected the SEL-734 Revenue Metering System from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. because it meets these requirements, and more. The SEL-734 is a bidirectional meter with ±0.06 percent accuracy that captures up to 12 channels of load profile data, peak demand, maximum/minimum values, and a host of engineering information.