Halton Borough Council - Stobart Stadium

Halton Borough Council & Stobart Stadium

Halton Borough Council is a local government district in North West England. It was created in 1974 and became a unitary authority area on 1 April 1998. It is now home to more than 120,000 people. The Stobart Stadium is Halton Borough Council’s flagship leisure, conference and sports facility. It is home to the rugby league team of the Widnes Vikings. First opened in 1895, it is now all seater and has a total capacity of 13,350.

After receiving the annual electricity consumption details for Stobart Stadium, it was possible to give a provisional quote for a powerPerfector unit and to outline the potential for energy savings. A voltage logger was then sent for one week, which recorded the voltage level in the building by connecting it to a regular mains socket. It was found that the average voltage at the site was 245 volts (V), 15V higher than the nominal supply in the UK. After a survey of the site by a powerPerfector Approved Contractor, the installation took place on a Thursday.

Topline results

A very quick look at electricity usage for the week before and after installation showed an immediate drop of 18.4% in kWh consumption. However, a fairer approach would be to compare a month’s electricity consumption year on year, so that the conditions and site usage are likely to be the same. On this basis there is a 14.4% reduction in average kWh consumption, equivalent to 165,080kg of CO₂ and £26,280 in savings every year. One of the many benefits of Voltage Power Optimisation is the marked improvement it has on the quality of power provided to your site, most clearly shown in fig. 2 with the 32.6% reduction in reactive power at Stobart Stadium.

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 – Stobart Stadium is now protected