Hastings Borough Council - Hastings Town Hall

Hastings Borough Council - Hasting town Hall - powerPerfected

The town hall is owned and run by Hastings Borough Council. It was built in the 1870's in the style of a mock gothic hall. It is now a listed building in the middle of the town centre.

The Challenge, the solution and the savings

After Hastings Borough Council sent their annual electricity consumption details, it was possible to give a provisional quote for a powerPerfector unit and the energy savings that would be expected. Like most office buildings, the Town Hall has a broad a mix of electrical loads, consisting mainly of lighting, HVAC and computers. A voltage logger was then sent for one week, which recorded the voltage level in the building by connecting to it in to a regular mains socket. After a survey of the site by a powerPerfector approved contractor a 70 kVA powerPerfector unit with an 11% optimisation setting was installed at Hastings Town Hall on 24 July 2009. There was no noticeable change to the operation of the building, although continuous carbon savings were instantly being made every day at Hastings Town Hall. 

Topline results

Our analysis indicates that electricity consumption has been reduced by 12.7% since the powerPerfector was installed. This equates to a projected annual carbon dioxide emissions saving of approximately 7,075kg and an annual financial saving of £1,549. Furthermore, analysis of the harmonics and Power Factor recorded by the PQA (Power Quality Analyser) indicated that, since the installation, Hastings Town Hall has benefited from a 21% reduction in 3^rd and 5^th harmonics on average across the three phases of supply, and Power Factor has been improved by an average of 0.6%.

A simple analysis of energy usage one month before and after the installation shows a 15.2% reduction kWh consumption, however this could be down to a number of factors, one the most likely being temperature. By doing a 'degree day' analysis it is possible, using Met Office data, to see how hard heating elements have to work in order to counteract the external temperature. In the case of the town hall temperature was indeed shown to have a very large effect on energy consumption (the correlation between the two had an R² value of 0.983 - 0 showing no corrrelation and 1 a perfect correlation). In order to only report the savings attributable to the powerPerfector installation, the model of energy consumption was then based on temperature, and this showed a 12.7% decrease compared to the forecast. 

It should be noted that the savings seen in energy consumption may not be entirely attributable to the lower level of voltage that equipment is now being supplied. Voltage Power Optimisation also reduces reactive power levels, balances the three supply phases and attenuates harmonics as an integral functionality of the technology. The recorded reduction in power factor was 0.6% and the apparent power decreased by 16.04%. The average percentage reductions in 3^rd and 5^th harmonics are detailed below:

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, but 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.