DFID - 1 Palace Street, London

DFID – powerPerfected

The Department for International Development (DFID) is the UK Government department responsible for promoting development and reducing poverty overseas. Its central goal is to work with other countries to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015. 

The challenge, the solution and the savings

The office covers just under 14,000m² and the daily occupancy varies between 700 and 800 employees. Following our free evaluation, the incoming voltage was found to be 240V, allowing for a 9% optimisation. Their office's electricity usage, predominantly lighting & HVAC, had a good potential for savings from Voltage Power Optimisation and on the 1 March 2008, two 1250kVA powerPerfector units were installed at the London head office of DFID.

Topline results

We analysed the half-hourly data for the site up to 30 April 2008. As shown in the charts below, the consumption since the powerPerfector units were installed is 15% lower than before installation, giving projected annual carbon savings of 79,300kg.  On the 1 January 2007 there was a significant increase in the baseload consumption, most likely due to a change in site load. In order to keep the analysis consistent the analysis only deals with the period after this jump.

The chart below displays the electricity consumption from 1 January 2007 to 30 April 2008. A 13.4% reduction in kWh consumption is observed, along with a 6.1% reduction in maximum demand and 7.4% reduction in base load.

It can be seen that, as expected, electricity consumption is considerably lower during Christmas and New Year, which will affect the accuracy of our savings calculation.  Therefore, to remove the effects of this anomaly in consumption the most robust form of analysis is to conduct a year-on-year comparison based on all post-installation data. 

A 15% reduction in kWh consumption is evident, along with a 12.3% reduction in maximum demand and 6.6% reduction in base load. In conclusion, analysis of electricity consumption at this site indicates that a 15% reduction in average kWh consumption is attributable to the powerPerfector installation. powerPerfector technology has made sure that the site operates more efficiently, benefits from improved power quality and is protected against common transients (voltage spikes). The installation took place over a single weekend with a well planned shutdown. There were no reported problems when the supply was reconnected and, with absolutely no moving parts there is no need for maintenance beyond the statutory 5 yearly checks required of all electrical equipment.

Voltage Power Optimisation. The less obvious benefits

Reduced maintenance, longer life
All electrical equipment has an optimum voltage at which it works best. A powerPerfected supply delivers that optimum and reduces the strain on your electrical equipment, leaving it to work more reliably and for longer.

Better quality power supply
Some things you may have accepted for years as product faults can turn out to be caused by a poor quality power supply. For instance, the life of incandescent light bulbs is almost doubled when the supply voltage is optimised. Now imagine that in relation to an IT network or an expensive piece of manufacturing equipment.

Missing the penalty kick
Power factor penalty charges – which are now uncapped in the UK – can be avoided if your power factor is above 0.95. If your power factor is at around 0.9 at the moment, powerPerfector could remove your exposure to these charges by improving the electrical efficiency of your site

Lower harmonic distortion and reduced neutral currents
powerPerfectors are able to filter harmonics on the mains incomer. Harmonic distortion is on the increase and can lead to random failures of electronic equipment – particularly computers.

Protection
Common transients – very brief spikes in voltage from the grid – are eliminated by powerPerfector. Transients at this level can cause catastrophic damage to equipment, but smaller, more common transient events will also shorten the life expectancy of electrical equipment over time. The looming energy gap means that the risk of transients is increased – 1 Palace Street is now protected.