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Modern equipment such as computers, office equipment, fluorescent lights, flood lights, electric motors. Transformers and solenoid controls that utilise magnets and coils can cause the electric current to lag voltage commonly in the range 0.6 to 0.8.
Simply, the amount of lag is known as the power factor.
This causes a circuit to draw more power than necessary and power factor correction equipment utilising capacitors and controls can bring the power factor of a circuit close to the ideal of 1.0 and save power demand costs for you
Powerfactor correction equipment can save money in all directions
Power factor correction equipment can not only save you big money on your electricity bills, it can also save you big money in other ways. As well as saving you money on DEMAND, it is also a very cost-effective way of increasing the capacity of your main cabling by up to 50%, thereby preventing:
(a) constant circuit breaker trip-outs due to circuit breaker overloads, and
(b) preventing high maintenance problems due to severe, PF-induced electrical sparking (i.e. preventing accelerated spark erosion of the electrical contacts of main contactors, relays and switches etc). Note that a 0.7 power factor (which is quite common nowadays), when properly corrected, will increase you main cable capacity by a massive 30% and could decrease your relevant, electrical maintenance factors by a similar figure.
Depending on your situation, this extra mains capacity and maintenance saving could worth up to an average of $50,000 on its own (without even considering the $ savings from power factor correction).
Power factor calculator: Your power factor, when measured at your main switchboard, should ideally be no less than 95% (or 0.95). Lower readings may substantially raise the cost of electricity bills that also have a DEMAND (e.g. kVA) charge component. Power factor management can lower your power bills. Note: Your local electrician can measure power factor for you in a few minutes.
Check your latest electricity bill against the same billing period for last year, any inexplicable increases of 10% - 20% or more per annum on your DEMAND component may be due to low power factor. This may need power factor correction, or if PFC already exists, it may need servicing, or it may need to be added to in size because your changing/expanding business may be severely over-extending its original-designed capacity. It’s a bit like asking a small car to now pull a caravan instead of a trailer, it may do it, but you can be pretty sure it won’t do anywhere near as well as a larger car and it’ll use a lot more petrol (energy cost) in the process.
We can organize for a quick power factor evaluation for any site, anywhere in Australia and will give you an obligation-free quotation for correctly sized power factor correction equipment (i.e. power factor correctors).
For a, obligation-free QUOTATION: Please send an email/fax with the subject line “Quotation wanted for Power Factor Correction” ask us about the potential powerfactor energy savingss for your business.
In your email/fax, tell us very briefly about your power factor situation and the physical size and operation of your business site. Email/fax us also a copy of both sides of your latest electricity bill. Also tell what your approximate power factor has been, if known.
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