Voltage optimisation is an effective and well established energy-saving technology which has been cutting carbon emissions and saving the industry millions of pounds by reducing electricity wastage since the beginning of the new millennium. The technology corrects the imbalance between the energy supplied through the National Grid, often as high as 242V, and the voltage required by modern electrical appliances which are designed to operate efficiently at 220V. 

Correcting the imbalance also prolongs the life of machinery by reducing the excess energy which manifests itself as unwanted heat and vibration. In addition it improves power quality by reducing harmonics, transients and phase voltage imbalances, thereby extending the life of electrical equipment and reducing maintenance bills.  

These benefits were all clearly of interest to Newburgh Precision, one of the UK’s premier contract manufacturing companies, which was seeking to implement an effective energy strategy in the company’s new facility.

Newburgh Precision, part of the Newburgh Engineering group founded in 1939, is quality assured for the manufacture of precision machined and fabricated engineering components and assemblies for all industrial sectors.

Guaranteed savings

Minimising the environmental impact of its business is high on the company’s agenda and it was also keen to install an energy management system that offered guaranteed results with minimal disruption of operations during installation.

Powerstar engineers carried out a full site survey to establish the best voltage optimisation solution for Newburgh Precision. Actual energy savings have exceeded expectations, resulting in a 156,361kWh saving per annum which is 10% of total site energy consumption. This represented a significant annual financial saving of £14,079, with a three year, two month return on Newburgh’s investment.

Powerstar has been fully designed, sourced and manufactured in the UK for 13 years and has been granted a patent on its design. The range includes HV side optimisation, LV side fixed and LV side electronic-dynamic optimisation. Average return on investment is two to three years and average savings are 12 to 15% on a variety of loads within a site, including LED lighting – a benefit that not all voltage optimisation systems are able to provide.

The Powerstar patented design takes the incoming voltage provided by the electricity authority and cuts the excess, sending the amount of voltage not needed by the site back to the electricity grid. This creates negative power, which goes towards the supply and reduces the electrical consumption of the site.

Powerstar is a maintenance-free, ‘fit and forget’ solution with no moving parts and a 50-year life expectancy. It comes with guaranteed savings and a 15-year warranty. 

A new range of flexible leasing packages requiring no up-front payments now makes it possible for organisations to pay for the investment out of savings as they are realised. Re-payments can also be set below monthly energy savings to create a positive cash flow from the outset and all re-payments are 100% tax deductible.

The solution has proved to be precisely what Newburgh Precision was looking for. Dave Burrows, plant provision manager at Newburgh comments: “Powerstar gave us an effective, guaranteed option to reduce our electricity consumption and carbon emissions. Along with the positive environmental impacts, we have seen a reduction in motor drive failures, giving us greater efficiency and providing further savings on top of those promised.”