POWER SUPPLIES & GENERATORS
FACILITATING CHANGE IN
ENERGY COSTS
Dr. Alex Mardapittas, Managing Director of Powerstar, discusses the long-standing
issue of rising energy costs for businesses, and how technologies can play a role in lowering electrical consumption and energy costs.
Ever-rising energy costs are something all businesses have been forced to accept in recent years, with most of the country’s largest providers increasing their tariffs for both commercial and residential customers. This is despite Ofgem highlighting, in January of this year, that there is no apparent reason for this to happen. In addition, the National Grid continues to place two tariff periods, DUoS (Distribution Use of System) and Triads, on commercial facilities for energy consumption at times of high demand, meaning it can be difficult for businesses to keep their electricity bills low.
However, it is not only the rise in energy costs that is cause for concern; power supply quality issues, including overvoltage, voltage spikes or dips, blackouts, and brownouts can cause significant damage to a business and its capability to effectively perform its daily operations.
There is a range of engineered solutions that enable businesses to reduce their energy consumption, electricity costs, improve power supply quality, and offer sustainable benefits. One of the most established technologies that can provide this is voltage optimisation, which, as the name suggests, optimises the incoming electricity supply to counter the oversupply of voltage from the National Grid.
Historically, the electricity network in the UK was designed to supply
32 | TOMORROW’S FM
voltage to buildings within the range of 225V-254V, despite electrical equipment operating optimally at around 220V. This overvoltage leads to energy waste, which in turn increases electricity costs and carbon emissions, in addition to causing unnecessary wear and tear to on-site equipment. Voltage optimisation, as a bespoke solution, reduces the incoming supply to an optimal level for any given business depending on their equipment and requirements, and can offer stability by adjusting the voltage reduction at times of voltage spikes and dips.
One of the more recent, and more discussed, innovations in energy saving technology is battery-based energy storage solutions, which allows businesses to partake in Demand Side Response (DSR) incentives and offers Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) functionality.
The solution, which is already deployed in many facilities across the UK, stores energy provided from the National Grid at times of low demand, when energy prices are cheaper, in addition to energy generated directly through renewable sources, enabling buildings to avoid consuming energy from the National Grid at times when energy prices are at their highest, instead relying solely on stored energy during that time period.
Through energy storage technology, businesses can partake in current
DSR schemes, which involve a business increasing, decreasing, or shifting their electricity use in response to an event. This can be significantly cheaper than maintaining electricity use through periods of high demand and, due to the response time of the technology, ensures all businesses successfully respond to at least 95% of all DSR demands.
The nature of battery-based energy storage technology provides constantly evolving businesses with a ‘future proof’ solution for critical locations such as datacentres. A wide range of equipment now connected to wireless controls, as well as frequent changes in the speed and processing power of IT equipment, meaning modern businesses have a greater requirement for UPS solutions than ever before.
With energy storage solutions, capacity can be expanded simply by installing additional batteries, which can be done at the time of installation or as growing demand is recognised, to ensure there is always enough power to support a business, even as their energy demands change.
Additionally, the flexibility of energy storage solutions means the technology can be utilised for a variety of applications; including integrating with solar (PV), Electric Vehicle (EV) charging and voltage optimisation solutions in order to yield additional benefits.
www.powerstar.com twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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