Vacon : helps solve water and food shortages with solar-powered pumps, compressors and fans

12.05.2015 08:00:00 CET

Vacon Plc, Press Release, 12 May 2015 at 9.00 (EET)

The global AC drives manufacturer Vacon will introduce its VACON® 20 X and VACON® 100 X AC drives, specifically designed for solar-powered applications, in the SPS IPC DRIVES ITALIA 2015 fair to be held in Parma, Italy, on 12-14 May 2015. These Vacon AC drives can be used with solar panels in environments where electricity supplies are scarce or unreliable.

The VACON 20 X and VACON 100 X AC drives play an important part in providing electricity from photovoltaic solar panels to the motors running various processes which make the standard of living better. Some of the typical applications include, for instance, water pumps which provide clean water for drinking and cooking or for irrigation; compressors used for refrigeration of food and dairy products as well as other applications including fans for ventilation and air conditioning.

The main geographical areas where Vacon's solar-power technology can make a difference include Africa, Middle East, South East Asia, Australia, and the Americas.

"Vacon AC drives are able to utilize the maximum available energy from the photovoltaic solar panels in all situations. The drives start to control the speed of the motors in the pumps, compressors or fans as soon as the sun starts to shine in the morning, and continue to do so until the sun sets in the evening. We are proud to be helping solve the major global issues of water and food shortages," explains Heikki Hiltunen, Executive Vice President, Market Operations at Vacon.

Photovoltaic solar panels absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity which can be used to power electrical devices. Once installed, the system has very low maintenance costs and the solar power is basically available for free.

In addition, solar-powered applications can be used to replace several other solutions that are more expensive, environmentally hazardous or logistically challenging. For example, diesel-driven pumps require fuel to be transported over a certain distance which itself consumes energy. Combustion engines are not that efficient, they require regular maintenance, and used oil and oil filters create hazardous waste.

Vacon's solar-power technology using VACON 20 X and VACON 100 X AC drives is available up to 30 kW. If more power is needed, for example for deeper wells, solar-powered applications are also available with the VACON® NXP/NXI drives in a power range up to 5 MW.

• Heikki Hiltunen, Executive Vice President, Market Operations, Vacon Plc, phone +358 (0)40 8371 609, heikki.hiltunen(at)vacon.com
• Sebastian Linko, Director, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, Vacon Plc, phone +358 (0)40 8371 634, sebastian.linko(at)vacon.com

Vacon in brief:

Vacon is driven by a passion to develop, manufacture and sell the best AC drives and inverters in the world - and provide customers with efficient product lifecycle services. Our AC drives offer optimum process control and energy efficiency for electric motors. Vacon inverters play a key role when energy is produced from renewable sources. Vacon has production and R&D facilities in Europe, Asia and North America, and sales offices in 32 countries. Further, Vacon has sales representatives and service partners in nearly 90 countries. In 2014, Vacon's revenues amounted to EUR 409.4 million, and the Company employed globally approximately 1,600 people. The shares of Vacon Plc (VAC1V) are quoted on the main list of the Helsinki stock exchange (NASDAQ OMX Helsinki). Vacon is part of the Danfoss Group.

Driven by Drives, www.vacon.com

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