Industrial Voltage Optimization at Large Industrial Facility Brings Energy Savings

Less is more when it comes to eating healthy and the same can be said of alternating current (AC) voltage inside industrial plants. By using active voltage regulation which incorporates voltage monitoring at the load, an industrial facility can save energy and better protect their equipment and systems. In the early spring of 2007, Plum Creek Timber Company (Plum Creek), Flathead Electric Cooperative (Flathead Electric), and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) teamed up with PCS UtiliData (PCS) to evaluate Plum Creek's Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) facility in order to optimize its distribution voltage. Based on the November 2007 evaluation, the facility implemented the AdaptiVoltTM voltage optimization system resulting in a voltage reduction between 1.9% and 4.8%. This reduction provides over 6,000,000 kWh per year of energy savings. This paper will describe the results of the evaluation, commissioning, and the measurement and verification (M&V) of the AdaptiVoltTM system installed at the facility. It will also address some key factors that were discovered during the evaluation, resulting in a modification of the evaluation processes and extending the M&V period another 11 months. Some of the factors are the influence of the distribution system’s characteristics on energy savings (i.e., the effects of an unbalanced distribution system), the unique M&V techniques used to determine the system’s potential, and the various setbacks that nearly eliminated the energy savings produced by the project.