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Northern Plains Power Technologies (NPPT) is a power engineering consulting firm based in Brookings, SD USA and founded in 2005 by Dr. Michael Ropp, a Georgia Tech PhD graduate in EE and a licensed PE. We specialize in: a) detailed time-domain computer models and simulations of power systems, power apparatus, power electronics, and the associated controls and communications; and b) engineering support of system planning, distribution automation, system protection, and asset management. We have particular expertise in systems containing power electronics or software-controlled devices, and also with low-inertia power systems (“microgrids”). Our engineering team has decades of person-years of experience, and is highly skilled, creative, professional, easy to work with, and cost-effective.
Typical applications of NPPT’s capabilities include:
- Distribution automation, including setup of relaying systems for self-healing, automatically-reconfiguring feeders for improved system reliability and robustness to storm damage (FLISR and ANR), on feeders with varying levels of complexity (presence of DG, networks or non-radial systems, multiple system goals)
- Trustworthy modeling of DG, including inverter-based or rotating devices, and also including energy storage devices
- Accurate assessments of the impact of unusual loads, such as large motor loads and motor starts, harmonic-producing loads, or pulsed loads
- Support of system planning involving FACTS devices, such as STATCOMS and D-VARs
- Interconnect studies for distributed generation plants of all types, including solar, wind, engine-gensets, and small hydro plants
- Controls design for distributed generation plants
- Special studies for distributed generation, such as risk of islanding, temporary/transient overvoltage and grounding, unintentional interactions with feeder protection schemes, or intentional islanding (microgrid) mode of operation
- Interconnect studies and custom controls design for battery or other storage systems
- Effective grounding of distributed generation
- Engineering support for volt-VAr optimization efforts
- Microgrid engineering, including:
- Controls design, including seamless transitions from on-grid to off-grid and back, and interactions between sources within the microgrid
- Integration of system controls and EMS
- Protection, even with multiple sources
- Microgrid modeling, for assistance with planning processes and system design
A list of selected recent clients:
- Advanced Energy Industries
- Ballinger
- BEW Engineering
- Black Hills Power
- Control Point Engineering
- Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
- Enfinity Corporation
- enXco Inc.
- Florida Solar Energy Center
- Hawaiian Electric Company
- Midstates Electric Cooperative (Oregon)
- National Grid
- Otter Tail Power Company
- Portland General Electric
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Texas Instruments
- TRC Solutions
- Unitil
NPPT investigators also participate on the IEEE 1547a and 1547.8 standards committees; the WECC Renewable Energy Modeling Task Force; and the Inverter Task Force on Effective Grounding.
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