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Renewable energy producer SITA UK Limited is saving over £90,000 of electricity a year at its Teeside facility, thanks to the installation of motor control equipment from Telemecanique, a brand of Schneider Electric.
A routine production project being undertaken by PPT Drive Systems Limited, one of Schneider Electric’s specialist waste management solutions partners, revealed large centrifugal fans used in the power generation process were running continuously at full duty with air flow being controlled by mechanical vane dampers. Graham Ingleson, SITA Tees Valley’s General Manager agreed to PPT Drive Systems completing a free energy audit to make recommendations for energy savings. PPT developed a model, using six Telemecanique AC sensorless flux vector inverters from 30kW to 110kW. The model showed a possible reduction in energy consumption from 320kW to just 50kW per hour. Graham Ingleson commented: "By optimising the fan speeds and being now able to adjust those speeds according to the cycle demand, we have saved enormous amounts of energy". The energy argument was a compelling one, but there was also the consideration of the installation and commissioning of the retrofit drives and the need to maintain the operator interfaces employed throughout the plant. PPT Drive Systems was able to complete the installation within three days, which comfortably fitted the timescale for one of the plant’s annual week-long shut downs. Moreover, none of the operator panels, switches or SCADA systems was affected in any way from the retrofit. In effect, the new drives were invisible to the plant operators. Although the SITA Tees Valley site is 50% exempted from the effects of the Climate Change Levy, the installation still qualifies for the Government’s Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA). This means that the cost of the drives and their installation can be entirely offset against income tax in the first year of ownership. The Telemecanique variable speed drives, as used by SITA, are approved for the ECA when used in continuous duty applications such as fans, pumps and compressors. The bottom line on the SITA Tees Valley installation is that payback on the drives installation was less than six months, even before any capital allowances.
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