This is a synopsis of power quality case study regarding the installation of electrical energy meters, gas meters and water meters at a third level education institution. An ongoing contract with a tertiary education institution has seen the installation of a large number of electrical energy meters, gas meters and water meters which are all connected over the site LAN back to a central PC.
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Situation/Problem
The college had a requirement to assess the carbon footprint, energy usage and associated costs with the various buildings and supplied services throughout the entire campus.
It was first decided to measure electricity, gas and water usage at the main supply points. Data logging and easy to use regular reporting software was required. Due to the size of the campus, there was a requirement to transmit the measure data via the college local area network.
Outcome
Powerpoint Engineering Ltd installed an energy metering system using Socomec Diris and Countis meters with Vision Control Software. This included electrical energy meters at the two main switchrooms, at each circuit on the main switchboards. Some existing water and gas meters were utilised where pulse outputs were available. Where gas and water meters did not exist, new meters were fitted and interfaced with the energy metering system.
As energy readings were gathered, large load consumers could be identified. The buildings and estate office implemented adjustments to the building management system to make energy savings where possible. In other cases new technologies were installed, such as high efficiency lighting. The result of these works could be monitored using the energy metering system installed, justifying the investment and validating the payback periods.This lead to further extension of the metering system and further installations of new energy saving and energy efficiency plant. The metering system is currently monitoring in excess of 200 measurment points (Oct 2012).
The most recent development has been the identification of the base load to an area of the campus, the gas consumption and water usage was also monitored. From collation of measured data from the metering system a Combined Heat & Power (CHP) system was sized and installed. The performance of this CHP plant is now being monitored by the same system.
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