Dr Alex Mardapittas, creator of the voltage optimisation solution, Powerstar, talks about voltage optimisation and how a flexible new range of leasing packages is making the technology more affordable than ever.
Voltage optimisation is a well-established and highly effective method of significantly reducing a site’s electricity bill and cutting carbon emissions. Energy savings are achieved by addressing the imbalance between the high voltage levels that are typically delivered to a site by the National Grid, on average 242V and the voltage actually required for optimum operation of electrical equipment, 220V. This excess voltage is not only wasteful and expensive but can also potentially damage or shorten the lifetime of equipment.
The Powerstar system, designed, sourced and manufactured in the UK for over a decade, offers proven energy savings on average of between 12% and 15%. It also improves power quality, a major factor in a recent installation at St John’s Catholic Academy in County Durham.
Quality issue
Before installing the system, Powerstar engineers carried out an on-site survey and immediately recognised that the cause of regular equipment failures, which included computers, air handling equipment, food mixer motors and pumps for the swimming pool, was due to a power quality issue and highlighted excessive harmonics as the cause.
Following the installation of the Powerstar system, the correct voltage was applied to the site’s electrical equipment and the electrical failures stopped. The installation of the Powerstar solution has also significantly reduced maintenance costs and resulted in electricity savings of over £8,000 per annum and 42 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Powerstar is the only known voltage optimisation system that has been proven to make savings on LED lighting, as a tender recently awarded by the University of Melbourne confirmed. The system has also demonstrated that significant savings – 6%-10% – can be achieved when modern variable speed drives (VSDs) are connected.
Negative power
The system’s patented design means that savings are achieved due to the negative power created, as the system returns the excess voltage in terms of real negative power, which is then deducted from the grid input power.
Excess voltage over and above the Powerstar set-point is returned to the grid, which flows towards the supply and is then subtracted from the incoming power. This results in 70-80% of the total savings, with the remaining 20-30% gained from the improvement in equipment efficiencies due to appliances being able to operate at their most effective.
A full mathematical simulation modelling of the Powerstar system carried out at the University of Warwick bears this out. The concluding report confirms that, “The overall power consumption is reduced because the negative power is induced as feedback power to the source. Virtually, this power can be considered as being generated from the load side.”
Following an on-site survey Powerstar engineers will guarantee an agreed level of energy savings regardless of load type and recommend the optimum tailored solution. The fit-and-forget technology has no moving parts, is virtually maintenance-free and comes with an expected lifetime of 50 years, as well as a 15-year warranty. By providing savings at source, it can be used in conjunction with all other energy-saving measures such as lighting controls and photovoltaic panels.
Capital-free investment
Powerstar systems typically deliver a return on investment in two to three years however, new finance arrangements introduced by the company now make it possible for public and private sector organisations in the UK to benefit from the full range of Powerstar systems without having to pay any up-front costs.
This includes Powerstar, Powerstar MAX, and the Powerstar HV MAX system for sites with their own transformer, optimising voltage before it enters a building and achieving average energy savings of 17%.
Companies can even install the technology by using savings, as they are made, towards monthly lease payments. Re-payments can also be set below the level of monthly savings to create a positive cash flow from the outset. All re-payments are completely tax deductible.
Operating leases, available over a five-year fixed period, offer significantly lower monthly payments and no up-front costs. At the end of the term, there will be a 20% residual balance, at which point the customer can either, purchase the product at the residual value, re-finance the outstanding balance or return the unit. Operating leases are also ‘off-balance sheet’ and as such do not affect profit and loss figures.
Finance leases differ in that the term of the lease is flexible and at the end of the term the customer takes ownership of the unit. Like operating leases, payments are monthly and no up-front payment is required.
With both leasing options, savings made can be put towards monthly payments in an on-going arrangement that offers financial peace of mind, ensures installations are cash positive from the outset and allows working capital to be used for core activities.
