By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Grand Rapids-based Coffman Electrical Equipment Company is leading a group of West Michigan companies in the development of the first-ever Advanced Mobile MicroGrid Power System, a $6.8 million project awarded to Detroit-based NextEnergy Center by the Department of Defense.
Coffman, Muskegon-based Newkirk Electric, and HTI in Caledonia are collaborating on the development of a prototype of the main system, an Electronic Power Control and Conditioning system (EPCC).
The EPCC system provides robust and reliable electric power to a wide array of equipment with diverse power needs, and can be transported and operated anywhere on the planet in 48 hours.
"The military needs to have higher quality power than in the past due to all the computers and technology," says Greg Mulder, power specialist for Coffman. "The new military vehicles are hybrids, so the EPCC can be used to power the vehicle, or it can power the base."
The EPCC module is the same size as a standard shipping container and transportable by plane, train, or trailer.
Mobile deployments can use the EPCC to take power off a local grid and convert it to European or American power. The EPCC makes it possible for different generators to work together to help support the existing energy grid, or be a primary or backup energy source. And generators, or solar or wind power can be integrated to run it.
Mulder expects completion of the Alpha unit by February. Personnel at Selfridge Air National Guard Base will test three additional units next summer.
Source: Greg Mulder, Coffman Electrical Equipment Company
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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