Capacitors installed by Leecorp and Qvarx at Wigton Wind Farm, Jamaica.

After the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) had commissioned the country’s first wind farm generator, it was discovered that it was taking more reactive power (vars) from the grid than it should. This made it less efficient as a clean alternative source of power.

The problem was that the older wind turbines installed at the PCJ’s Wigton Wind Farm, behaved like huge motors that actually consume reactive power. So for a 20 MW wind farm, a few percentage points below unity power factor means a huge draw on the reactive power from the network; in this case, the 7-8 mvar at peak output. As this is a commodity that has to be paid for, this scenario results in major losses in the wind farm’s income.

Leecorp, in collaboration with Quebec, Canada’s Qvarx was able to provide a solve this problem.

The solution developed was the implementation of centralized switching compensating capacitors with stacked reactors (see picture in this section), an extension of the 24 KV substation. The result after implementation was unity power factor and no net consumption of vars by the wind farm. For further technical details of this project, you may access the Power Point presentation at the Caricom Renewable Energy Developent site.

The future of the world lies largely in finding solutions to our energy problems (cost and availability) and reducing our greenhouse gasses.

The general goal is to optimize the use of renewables like solar, wind and hydro, but most importantly to improve efficiency. The cost to save 1 kw of electrical energy is a fraction of the cost to deliver the same amount of electricity by renewables, so it’s always most cost effective to fully leverage all options to improve efficiency, before embarking on renewable generation.

Leecorp can deliver all the above. We have partnered with various manufacturers to deliver renewable sources of energy to satisfy any requirement in the residential or commercial sector. We are very experienced, based on our industrial background, to undertake detailed commercial and industrial audits, which pinpoint the way forward to improving your energy efficiency and we have all the products and capability to implement those opportunities.

For a quick evaluation of your renewable needs go the Department of Energy PVWATTS section.

Please contact us for your specific requirements.