From Geoff Henderson, Wind Torque Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand
NOT THE FIRST TO BE PERMANENTLY EXCITED
Responding to the claim by Neptune Wind Systeme (Letters, March 1996) and pointing out that a prototype of the torque limiting gearbox (TLG) system featuring a permanently-excited synchronous generator directly connected to the electrical grid has been running successfully in a Wind Energy Group MS2 wind turbine in Devon, England, since 1990.
I would like to take issue with the claim made in your magazine by a new German company, Neptune Wind Systeme, that to their knowledge their prototype "is the first in the world to operate with a permanently-excited generator" (Permanently excited, march 1996). In fact a prototype of the torque limiting gearbox (TLG) system has been running successfully in a Wind Energy Group (WEG) MS2 wind turbine in Devon, England, since 1990. This features a permanently-excited synchronous generator, directly connected to the electrical grid. And, while the TLG wind turbine is probably the first to run successfully with the synchronous generator directly coupled to the grid (i.e. not through a power electronic variable speed drive), it is not the first to run with a permanently-excited synchronous generator. The WEG MS1 and LS1, among others, have had permanently-excited generators, hence I am rather puzzled by the German company's claim.
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