Frederic Robinson's Breweries - Stockport

Frederick Robinson Breweries – powerPerfected

One of Britain’s largest regional breweries, it’s been family run since 1838 it’s now by the fifth and sixth generation of the family, the company continues to develop whilst still using traditional brewing methods. With an estate of over 400 houses stretching from Northern Cumbria through the Lake District, North Wales, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire, together with the expansion of wholesale, free trade, off trade activity and a state of the art bottling facility, Robinsons is well placed to continue its success story in the future.

The challenge, the solution and the savings

Frederic Robinson’s Stockport site has over 100 motors ranging from 750W to 75kW, all but a few with Variable Speed Drives (VSDs) which already greatly improve motor efficiency. After going through our free evaluation process a 1000kVA unit was installed on 6 April 2008 with a 9% optimisation.

Topline results

When our Analysis Team looked into the raw data, the predominant factor determining energy use was the number of barrels produced. Armed with this knowledge they liaised with Frederic Robinson to work out the Specific Energy Ratio (SER) of barrel production. A comparison of the SER during periods before and after the powerPerfector installation showed a 10.75% drop in average specific kWh consumption. Projected onto an annual scale and Frederick Robinson Breweries are saving £21,000, with the kWh reduction amounting to 154,000kg of mitigated CO₂ emissions. Voltage Power Optimisation^®, the technology at the core of every powerPerfector unit, has improved and protected the electrical infrastructure of the site, which now operates more efficiently.

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. As we move toward the Energy Gap the risk of transients increases – the Lodge is now protected.