Power factor correctors

[cadwaladr]

One of my customers has a lot of equipment driven by electric motors and upcoming changes to his billing for power usage is changing meaning he will be charged more,question is will power factor corrector reduce his kva ?

[NH3LVR]

Not an area where I am an expert, however I will give it a shot.
If I am not entirely correct I am sure someone will tell me.
Where you have an opportunity to save is with motors that are not fully loaded. The Power Supplier may charge you for KVARs, increasing your billing.
You most likely will not save much on KVA, although there may be some effect especially if the Electrical system is running close to maximum capacity.
I personally have not found it cost effective in plants I have worked in.
On this side of the Pond the power Companies are eager to have us install Capacitors as they save them money. I assume they would review the situation at a plant there as they do here.
Be careful of the folks who want to install them for free and then keep the savings.

Wiki is useful as always.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor#Lagging_and_leading_power_factors

[cadwaladr]

This customer only asked how to some other questions and then told me of an issue that the electricity suppliers are moving the goalposts which could see his annual bill to be £10,000 more per annum because of the amount he uses,I have heard in the past that corrections could cut his consumption not a field I know anything about,another option he has is to open a second factory thus moving some of his processing there but that would exceed the rise in electricity charge,anyone know of any other way to achieve what he needs?

[Segei]

If company use energy inefficiently, utility charges penalties. Power factor corrector can improve use of el. energy and penalties will be reduced. If el. motors are not fully loaded all the time, your customer can install VFDs and he will save energy. Energy use of the refrigeration plant can be reduced as well.

[NH3LVR]

Again I would suggest you contact your energy supplier. I am sure the UK has a program as we do locally to improve energy efficiency.

I had the local power company send out a team to examine energy usage and analysis was free. The State picked up the majority of the cost of modifications through tax credits. We replaced the old lighting and saved 66% of the installation cost. Our payback was only one year for the investment. After that the savings were ours.

Sometimes their recommendations are not practical, but sometimes they are.

You did not mention what kind of refrigeration system or how large, but many times you can make improvements, especially if the head pressure can be reduced.

[al]

Most supermarkets here have power factor correction, one electrician explained it to me but most went over my head, basically the closer to unity (1) then the closer the bill is to the power actually consumed.

Get it priced, it should pay for itself in a short time frame.

[cadwaladr]

Thanks for the replies,I will advise my customer to speak to an expert,

[managingsumthin]

I would advise they go to an 'energy survey consultant' PFC can help but if they have a lot of VFD's fitted then they should be careful as PFC can damage VFD's,