It is time to evaluate the energy and cost saving potential of VFD!
We all read and hear it in the news daily now: The electricity and gas prices are going up sharply. Some people even talk about “energy crisis”. This phenomenon affects the households as well as industrial customers. While it may be a significant challenge for the profitability of certain plants it may also be seen as an opportunity. Now is the perfect time to start considering energy savings really seriously. The good news is: With increased electricity prices the payback time of your VFD is going to be shorter than before. Therefore we invite you to evaluate the energy and cost saving potential when using VFDs.
Energy efficiency is an important contributor to profitability of almost any industrial segment. It had been one of the major drivers and success factors of steadily increasing VFD installed base. Yet, there are still people who prefer the old way using fix speed motors or rather inefficient ways of flow control. When the electricity is cheap and the regulation on emissions soft then keeping the plants running the old way may be acceptable. But as soon as both factors kick in we shall really start exploring alternative options.
Evaluate the energy and cost saving potential now
The efforts to slow down the climate change are not completely new. However, during the pandemic the things got accelerated. Many governments have given clear signals about the energy future, the strategies, the subventions and also the penalties. Some of them have made impressive committments. So do many companies. Now combining this vision with actual electricity market prices the timing has never been better to leverage the full potential of VFDs.
Few facts to make you think
Let’s think about following aspects for a moment:
- The purchase price of an electric motor may be as little as 4-5% of the total lifecycle cost of the equipment
- About 92% of the lifecycle cost represent the energy cost
- Electricity prices have more than doubled in Europe during 2021
- As the consumption of electric energy is going to increase significantly in the coming years the electricity prices likely remain high or keep growing further
- Inefficient services and plants may be heavily penalized by governments
- Consequently, the payback time of a VFD becomes shorter
- The earlier you start the more cost you save
I bet that there are many business cases where the VFD under current market situation pays off during the warranty period. Let’s say that the payback time for your project is 2.5 years. Then buying a VFD with 3 years of warranty may look like a no brainer. The equipment pays back even before the warranty expires. Such cases existed in the past. With the dramatically increased electricity prices there will be many more cases like that.
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Of course, the payback time is not estimated by a “qualified look out of the window”. Instead, it is calculated based on operation profiles, efficiency figures and current and forecasted electricity prices.
We have recently published few articles on motor retrofits. That is a perfect area to start. You have the historical data so the energy saving assessment has a very solid base. What is a bit unclear is the forecast of the future electricity prices. However, we can calculate 2-3 scenarios to deal with the uncertainty, e.g. “optimistic case”, “realistic case” and “pessimistic case”.
The benefits are not limited to retrofit projects. New installations will of course benefit from the use of VFD as well.
Rememeber, you need to spend money first so that you can make money. Investment into a VFD might be one of the best decisions right now. Not every single application benefits from a VFD but vast majority of them does. With our energy saving assessment you will pick the best suited “candidates” and start from there.
Summary
Every “crisis” has two sides – negative and positive. We are used to see it negatively. However, it also offers opportunities. Current high electricity prices constitute an opportunity to revise your manufacturing processes and explore the energy saving potential there.
References
[1] Why Europe’s energy prices are soaring and could get much worse, Euronews, updated 23/09/2021, link
[2] Energy efficiency – Part 7: How to calculate energy and cost savings, https://mb-drive-services.com/how-to-calc-energy-and-cost-savings/
[3] Energy saving assessment, https://mb-drive-services.com/energy-saving-assessment/
[4] Retrofits of DOL motors: Low-hanging fruit? https://mb-drive-services.com/retrofits-of-dol-motors-low-hanging-fruit/
1 Comment
Günter Gritsch · September 30, 2021 at 9:58 pm
Thanks a lot for your perfect support during project execution – fast, complete and uncomplicated Rgds
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