What is power factor?
It is a measure of how efficiently your electrical equipment uses power from the grid. It’s not a reflection on how old your equipment is, but it’s the type of equipment that matters.
How much does it cost
Some equipment can have power factors of less than 60%. This means that for every $10,000 of capacity charges you pay the grid, you only get to use $6,000 worth.
Does everyone pay this?
Different networks charge different tariffs, so the cost will vary across the country. However, ALL network tariffs are increasing AND more and more business customers are being put onto expensive network tariffs.
What can I do about it?
Power factor correction is designed to make your equipment more efficient. Instead of buying more capacity from the grid, the power storage devices in the PFc inject expensive peak power.
Understanding Power Factor
To understand power factor, visualize a horse pulling a railroad car down a railroad track. As the railroad ties are uneven, the horse must pull the car from the side of the track. The horse is pulling the railroad car at an angle to the direction of the car’s travel. The power required to move the car down the track is the working (real) power. The effort of the horse is the total (apparent) power.
Because of the angle of the horse’s pull, not all of the horse’s effort is used to move the car down the track. The car will not move sideways; therefore, the sideways pull of the horse is wasted effort or nonworking (reactive) power. The angle of the horse’s pull is related to power factor, which is defined as the ratio of real (working) power to apparent (total) power. If the horse is led closer to the center of the track, the angle of side pull decreases and the real power approaches the value of the apparent power. Therefore, the ratio of real power to apparent power (the power factor) approaches 1. As the power factor approaches 1, the reactive (nonworking) power approaches 0.
This scenario can be applied to power factor demonstrating that often only a percentage of the current provided by electrical utilities that is being paid for is being used.
PowerSave Solution
- PowerSave provides superior power factor correction (0.99) for maximum savings and improved equipment lifespan.
- PowerSave runs close to 99.9% efficiency for minimal operating costs.
- It uses software to monitor and protect components instead of inefficient, high-heat reactors. This reduces risk of heat damage and servicing costs.
- PowerSave is equipped with high reliability, self-healing capacitors from German electronics specialist EPCOS.
The Benefits of Improving Your Power Factor with PowerSave
• Quick and simple set up and commissioning features with auto CT installation detection.
• No reactors – ensures low heat production, high efficiency and minimises unit size
• Upgradeable for harmonic protection, should site require additional power quality protection
• Integral to organisations with Net Zero strategy
• 8-year onsite warranty
• Fully scalable from single site to multi-asset portfolio
• No reactors and low heat ensure industry leading safety performance
• No heat damage to surrounding equipment
• No requirement for external/separate installation
• Standard installation takes 3-4 hours
• High quality TDK Epcos capacitors
• Partnered with global manufacturer, Flex, to guarantee safe and durable designs
• Fully compatible with existing BMS and microgrid environments
PowerSave Analysis
Edge uses a sophisticated analytics process to recreate a virtual bill of a customer’s network demand charges ($/kVA). All site analysis uses 12 months of meter interval data to exactly match the customers’ demand charges and then evaluate the change in these demand charges with a PowerSave installed. All PowerSave units are sized to provide the ideal balance of economic performance and sufficient additional kVAr capacity to provide flexibility should site load increase. Find out how much you could save using the PowerSave calculator and book your analysis below.