Schneider Electric Solar Business, a global provider of solutions for solar power conversion, welcomed British Columbia’s Premier Christy Clark to their Burnaby, BC headquarters to officially open their new MicroGrid Lab.

The MicroGrid Lab occupies 15,000 sq ft of Schneider Electric’s Burnaby office; it contains 70,000 lb of wiring, 300,000 lb of test equipment and an 1800 point control structure. Jill Tipping, VP Operations & CFO, Solar Business, Schneider Electric, commented that “Our new MicroGrid Lab is one of the largest of its kind in North America and is enabling Schneider Electric to realize its potential as a global leader in Solar.”

The new MicroGrid Lab was built to support the design and testing of Schneider Electric’s revolutionary SE1 1500V platform. The lab allows Schneider Electric to test their solar products to all international safety and grid interconnection standards under a wide range of environmental conditions. Due to the very specific nature of the lab, much of the equipment had to be custom designed such as the AC simulators that were required for the testing facility simply did not previously exist as standard equipment. The MicroGrid Lab also has its own 5 MW substation and four AC sources, one of which is the grid itself.

Another great success of this lab was that it was constructed and commissioned in only four months an achievement for which Schneider Electric won the BCTIA award for Team of the year 2014. 200 people were employed full time during the construction of the lab to help with the engineering, electrical, mechanical, and trades.

"Schneider Electric’s investments in British Columbia are a vote of confidence in our economy and our future as a clean energy provider and technology leader. Their new MicroGrid Lab will help provide greener, more affordable energy here at home and around the world" said Premier Christy Clark.