2009-11-24 - An ABB solution is enabling a new and innovative version of the waterwheel to generate electricity from a stream flowing through the Italian city of Turin, and deliver it safely and reliably to the local power grid.
By ABB Communications
Pioneered by Italian hydropower company, Ener.Cat.Italia, this new version of the waterwheel is being installed along a 33-kilometer stretch of the Canavese Canal, a small watercourse flowing through Turin, Italy’s fourth largest city.
When it is finished, the installation will consist of about 80 waterwheels, each one producing 32 kilowatts (kW) of emission-free hydropower. The wheels will have a combined generating capacity of around 2,650 kW, enough to power 2,500 Italian homes.
To date, 16 wheels have been installed in a 300-meter section of the canal as a pilot project, with orders for commercial installations in other parts of northern Italy already in the pipeline.
The technology that helps make this project possible is based on ABB regenerative drives, which optimizes the system and feeds electricity safely and reliably into the local power grid.
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Each wheel is equipped with either a 7.5 kW or 15 kW asynchronous motor on either side of the wheel, a PLC and an ABB regenerative drive (ACS800-11).
Each wheel is equipped with either one or two generators, depending on the volume and flow of water available at the site in question. The wheel is controlled by an ABB regenerative drive that enables maximum power to be obtained whatever the volume or flow of water. The drive transfers the power generated at the correct values into the power network.
ABB regenerative drives come in a factory-tested package with all the necessary and optional components inside the drive, which makes for easy and fast installation and commissioning.
ABB was approached by Ener.Cat early in the project to develop an optimal solution that would help transform the mechanical energy produced by waterwheels into electrical energy that can be transferred into the distribution network.
Working in close collaboration, ABB and Ener.Cat tested different sizes of wheels and various types of generators before finding the best combination that best responds to the often large seasonal variations in water flow.
ABB regenerative drive ACS800-11 is a complete, compact single drive. Unlike drives which require additional external components like line fuses and monitoring relays, ABB regenerative drives come in a factory-tested package with all the necessary and optional components inside the drive, which makes for easy and fast installation and commissioning.
ABB is the world’s leading supplier of variable speed drives.
In 2008 ABB’s installed base of low voltage drives saved an estimated 170 terawatt-hours of electric power, enough to meet the annual needs of 42 million households in the European Union and reduce global carbon dioxide emissions by some 140 million tons a year, equivalent to the yearly emissions of more than 35 million cars.
Watch an Ener.Cat video on the installation (In Italian)