Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The project objective is to develop power-electronic couplings to harness energy from run-of-river kinetic turbines for supplying electric loads in remote areas. An instrumented on-site test platform will be constructed with an immersible turbine and Power Electronics Building Block (PEBB) based converter to feed the energy to the remote electrical grid. The facility will conduct research into the PEBB topology and control methods for providing high efficiency power with high quality. The facility will also be used to validate simulation models of such equipment, particularly to investigate possible undesirable interactions between grid and the turbine. The effects of ice formation and turbulence on the river turbine will be investigated. Presently many northern Canadian communities, such as aboriginal reserves, are supplied by expensive, polluting diesel generator sets, for which the fuel has to be transported via winter roads. The research will lead to the development of a relatively inexpensive clean renewable energy supply for such areas in Canada. It will also lead to the development of Highly Qualified Personnel who can be employed in the electrical manufacturing sector in Canada.