EE8236 ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS IN BUILDINGS

Lecture 13

2.13 Energy Saving Measures

Any form of energy is a limited resource. Therefore it is necessary to use it carefully to

conserve for future use. Most of the electrical energy production all over the world will
depends on the use of extinguishing fossil fuel resources and nuclear fuels. The production
of electricity from renewable resources is not well developed for the commercial use at the
moment.

In Sri Lanka 60% of electricity requirement is produced using fossil fuels at the moment.

With the current technology the electricity production from the fossil fuels (Energy
conversion efficiency) are as follows.

Type of Fossil Fuel Units Electricity Produced per unit Fossil

Diesel Litre 2.5kWhFuel
– 4 kWh
Coal (Average) kg 2kWh

The conservation of electrical energy can be achieved from the following measures.
 Reducing over usage and wastage
 Reducing electricity transmission & distribution losses
 Supplying reactive power requirement of industrial loads locally (To reduce system
losses)
 Using machinery and equipment efficiently
 Using efficient machinery and equipment.

Installation of capacitor banks to supply reactive power locally

Example: The average power consumption of a Tea factory is 65kW (3 Phase, 230V, 50Hz))
at a lagging power factor of 0.7. Calculate the following assuming the consumer contact
demand is 100kVA.
1. Calculate the saving of kVA and reduction of line amperage if the power factor is
improved to 0.95.
2. Calculate the minimum size of the parallel capacitor required.
3. Design 5 step capacitor panel using a programmable micro controller and other
required components

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Answer:

Supply = 3P, 230V, 50 Hz

Contract Demand =100kVA
P = 65 kW, P.F. = 0.7

Line Amperage before p.f. improvement = 92.86 x 1000/(230 x 3) = 134.6 A

Line Amperage after p.f. improvement = 68.42 x 1000/ (230 x 3) = 99.16 A

1. Saving of kVA = 92.86-68.42 = 24.44 kVA

Reduction of line amperage = 134.6 – 99.16 = 35.44 A

2. Minimum size of the parallel capacitor required

Amount of reactive power supplied by the capacitor bank = Q1-Q2 = 44.95 kVAr

Per Phase Capacitance, C = 902 µF

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 3. Contract demand of the consumer is 100 kVA and at the moment he is using 92.86 kVA
capacities. Therefore further loading with this main connection is limited to few kVA.
So assume that the future expansion will not be done.

In this example reactive power supplied by capacitor bank is 44.95 kVAr. Therefore
select 50kVAr for the capacitor bank to be designed.

Select the reactive power steps meaningfully.

(2 x 15kVAr + 1 x 10kVAr + 2 x 5kVAr or 5 x 10 kVAr is better)

Considering 1st choice, calculate the line currents for each step and the total line current
if the capacitor bank operates fully.

Line current for 15kVAr step = 15000/(3 x 230) = 21.74A

Line current for 10kVAr step = 10000/(3 x 230) = 14.5A

Line current for 5kVAr step = 7.25A

Total Line current per phase =2x21.74+1x14.5+2x7.25= 72.48 A, Selected line current
is (72.5 x 1.35 =97.9A) or 100A for sizing main cable, Bus bars, MCCB and incoming
isolator.

Size of capacitors,

For 15kVAr, C=15000/(230 x 230 x 2 x π x 50 x 3) = 300 µF per phase

For 10kVAr, C=10000/(230 x 230 x 2 x π x 50 x 3) = 200 µF per phase

For 05kVAr, C=5000/(230 x 230 x 2 x π x 50 x 3) = 100 µF per phase

Home Work:

 Capacitor overloading
 Tuned and de-tuned capacitors
 Self-healing of capacitors
 Filter circuits

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