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DID YOU KNOW THAT SMART POWER OFFERS...
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Energy Pricing and Analysis?
Smart Power provides tendering and pricing analysis services to help you secure the best available energy price.
We use site-specific, 'time-of-use' energy profiles to determine the best rate for each site. We will produce an analysis report detailing the costs and savings associated with each supplier or rate. This will give you enough information to understand our recommendations and make your own decisions.
For very large users we also offer a portfolio management service to enable effective, independent hedge management.
We are able to analyse your network charges and look for cost saving opportunities. We will also support you with specialist knowledge in supplier negotiations if required.
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EVER WONDERED ABOUT....
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Power factor?
What is Power Factor?
Power factor is a measure of how effectively your electrical equipment converts electrical current into useful output power, such as heat, light or mechanical motion.
Why does it matter?
Low power factor can lead to lower than 'normal' voltages within a site and consequently present unreliable equipment performance.
Many electricity network companies charge large commercial and industrial customers when power factor falls below 0.95 lagging.
Additionally, if your network company pricing has a component based on kVA demand (either maximum or co-incident), the lower the power factor, the higher the kVA demand and higher the network charge.
Low power factor could also lead to stressing of the internal electricity infrastructure. This may cause unnecessary overheating and equipment degeneration.
Ignoring power factor issues could increase costs for new installations, because of the need to oversize cables, switchboards and other electrical equipment.
What causes poor power factor?
Usually inductive loads are the cause of poor power factor. Inductive loads include transformers, induction motors, relays, solenoids and lamp ballasts.
How do you fix it?
Power factor correction (PFC) is usually achieved by adding capacitive load to offset
the inductive load present in the power system. These capacitor banks are normally automatically controlled and can adjust the amount of capacitance in the circuit according to the system's requirements at any given time.
For a different explanation (featuring beer and foam) click here
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Greetings!
Welcome to this edition of "Get Smart", Smart Power's regular bulletin. Get Smart provides a round-up of energy news and views from New Zealand, Australia and around the world.
In "Company Voice" this month, director Glenn Johnston talks about funding for energy efficiency projects.
As always your feedback is most welcome. |
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NEW ZEALAND ENERGY HEADLINES
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Greenpeace NZ calls for 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025
Greenpeace have released a report calling for New Zealand's energy production to be 100 per cent renewable by 2025.
"The Future is Here: New Jobs, New Prosperity and a New Clean Economy" report suggests New Zealand makes a dramatic shift to clean energy.
The report suggests a move to provide all electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025 and said New Zealand should provide all areas of energy - including electricity, transport, heating and industrial - from renewable energy sources.
The report does not explain how this should be done. Read more
SFO closes probe into $46m Akl power job
A Serious Fraud Office probe into one of New Zealand's largest privately-owned construction companies - which involved raids on two premises and the seizure of computers - has been closed with no prosecution brought.
The fraud office last August raided two premises linked to Hawkins Construction and the $419 million upgrade of Transpower's Hobson Street substation, which the company was project managing.
Hawkins was contracted by Vector and Transpower in the substation redevelopment.
But after an investigation involving the trawling of thousands of documents, interviews and industry experts, the SFO said there was no grounds for it to launch a criminal prosecution. Read more
Power company value rises $190m as sale nears
The Government has received good news ahead of its partial asset sales plan with a $190 million boost in the value of the first company on the block, Mighty River Power, which is due to be sold in the next five months.
But Genesis Energy, slated for partial sale next year, has lost $70 million in value over the past year, according to board estimates, and troubled state-owned coal company Solid Energy's value remains shrouded in uncertainty.
The Treasury's Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit (Comu) recently released the latest valuation for its portfolio of state-owned enterprises. Read more
Mainzeal crash bad news for Horizon Fallout from the Mainzeal receivership is hitting listed lines company, Horizon Energy. The company says its wholly owned subsidiary, Aquaheat NZ is likely to incur a "significant adverse financial impact" following the appointment of receivers to Mainzeal Property and Construction. "Aquaheat is owed money on a number of contracts with Mainzeal. The actual financial position is currently being assessed by Aquaheat's management, however it is clear there will be an impact on the Horizon Energy profit for the current financial year" said Horizon chairman Rob Tait. He said the announcement Mercury cuts power prices for Aucklanders Mercury Energy, the electricity retailer owned by partial privatisation candidate MightyRiverPower, has announced its first across the board price cuts in a decade. The cuts average 1.4 per cent for most of its customers in its home territory, Auckland, and will apply from April 1. The cut is credited to an order by the government's competition watchdog, the Commerce Commission, to the owner of Auckland's electricity network, Vector, to cut its prices because it has been earning higher than allowable rates of return. The last such across the board cut for residential customers was in 2002-2003, a Mercury spokesman said. However, Mercury is holding back some of the cut to make a 2.9 per cent increase in the cost of the energy it delivers down the lines. Read more |
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AUSTRALIAN ENERGY HEADLINES
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Hydro surge cuts power sector emissions
A surge in hydro power and further inroads from other renewable energy sources is contributing to a drop in carbon emissions from the electricity sector, according to Pitt & Sherry research.
Annualised output from Hydro Tasmania is now at its highest since Tasmania joined the National Electricity Market (NEM) in 2005, while output from the Snowy system is at its highest since 2006, said Hugh Saddler, principal consultant with the Pitt & Sherry consultancy.
Hydro Tasmania "is pretty well at its limit", Dr Saddler said, adding that the carbon tax had "certainly made hydro look attractive". Read more
Solar and wind energy catch fire
Solar and wind-power generation are soaring at home and abroad as falling costs combine with rising prices for fossil-fuel alternatives to reshape electricity markets.
Australians installed about 1 gigawatt of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on their roofs last year, increasing the existing capacity by more than two-thirds, according to the Australian Solar Council.
The rush to take advantage of generous feed-in tariffs before they were cut saw Queensland more than double its PV sales, adding almost 400 megawatts of capacity in 2012. Victorians also came close to doubling PV capacity, while New South Wales increased capacity by about one-third.
Wholesale prices for solar PV are now down as low as 55¢ per watt from an average of about $7 in 2008, said John Grimes, chief executive of the Australian Solar Council. Read more
SP AusNet prevented from lifting meter costs
In a bid to stop overspending on the electricity network, SP AusNet has been blocked by the Australian Energy Regulator from raising charges to pay for its smart meters.
The regulator, an arm of the competition watchdog, also criticised the company for failing to switch to cheaper technology to avoid an increase in costs.
Earlier, the regulator cut to $304.1 million from $410.7 million SP AusNet's proposed expenditure for the introduction of the meters between 2012 and 2016, triggering a legal challenge by the power distributor.
Since the legal challenge failed, consumers will not be charged for cost overruns. SP AusNet has not ruled out challenging the decision, saying it would ''carefully review'' it before deciding on a response. Read more
State avoids $400m bill on carbon
The Victorican state government has narrowly avoided a carbon price bill of about $400 million under a secret deal struck with Alcoa whereby the Gillard government will cover much of the costs.
The State Electricity Commission of Victoria's annual report reveals the state budget was facing a $396 million carbon price hit triggered by a long-standing contract to supply cheap power to fuel Alcoa's Point Henry and Portland smelters.
Under the decades-old arrangement, the commission acts as an intermediary, purchasing power from Loy Yang B and on-selling it at a discounted price to the aluminium giant.
Because the commission is a corporate shell used to manage the supply arrangements with Alcoa, it was ineligible for federal compensation to cover the higher power costs due to the carbon price it has now agreed to take from the generator.
Read more
Australia unlikely to build new coal-power stations Australia is unlikely to build new coal-fired power stations because of tumbling prices for renewable energy and the rising cost of finance for emission-intensive fuels, according to research by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Even without a carbon price, wind energy is now 14 per cent cheaper than a new baseload coal-fired power station and 18 per cent cheaper than a new gas one, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said. The gap widens further when the carbon tax is added. Wind farms can now generate electricity at $80 per megawatt hour, compared with $143 per MWh for a new coal power station and $116 for a new baseload gas power station. In Western Australia, large-scale photovoltaic (PV) power stations are already cheaper than new coal-fired generating capacity, BNEF said. ''It's very unlikely that new coal [power stations] would be built in Australia,'' said Kobad Bhavnagri, head of clean energy research for BNEF in Australia. Read more
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INTERNATIONAL ENERGY HEADLINES
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China flags plan to cut coal use
China's decade-long boom in coal-driven heavy industry is about to end as the leadership shifts priorities towards energy conservation, say officials and policy advisers.
The advisers predict China's coal consumption will peak at only a fraction above current levels after the State Council, or cabinet, last week set an ambitious new total energy use target for the five-year plan ending in 2015.
''Coal consumption will peak below 4 billion tonnes,'' said Jiang Kejun, who led the modelling team that advised the State Council on energy-use scenarios.
''It's time to make change,'' said Dr Jiang, who is director of the Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). ''There's no market for further development of energy-intensive industry.'' Read more
Solar set to eclipse wind in US for first time
The US will add more solar power in 2013 than wind energy for the first time as wind projects slump and cheap panels spur demand for photovoltaic systems, according to the head of Duke Energy Corp.'s renewable-energy development unit.
The US may install 3 gigawatts to 4 gigawatts of wind turbines this year, and solar projects will probably exceed that, said Gregory Wolf, president of Duke Energy Renewables. The US added 13.1 gigawatts of wind power last year, beating natural gas for the first time.
US wind projects have come to a near-standstill this year on uncertainty over the fate of a federal tax credit that was set to expire December 31. Wolf anticipates more solar projects going into operation in 2013 than wind farms after panel prices fell more than 60 per cent in the last two years. Read more
Gas Bonanza for Germany?: Berlin Wants to Fast-Track Fracking
The German government is planning to accelerate an end to a virtual moratorium on the controversial natural gas extraction method called fracking.
Parliamentarians from Angela Merkel's governing center-right coalition of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union, and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) want to jumpstart the extraction of shale gas deposits in the country. As such, they have agreed on key measures for tapping virgin deposits ahead of this year's federal election in the fall.
Such measures would effectively end what has widely been seen as a hold on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking -- the controversial extraction method in which pressurized fluid is forced into rock layers to release natural gas and other valuable substances -- due to safety worries and public concern. Read more
British households asked to put a wash on when it's windy
EDF Energy has teamed up with Imperial College London to trial the new idea known as "day ahead electricity alerts".
The year-long trial aims to find out whether people are prepared to do their washing, tumble drying, and other electricity intensive tasks on windy days or at off peak times when green power is cheap and plentiful.
The 1,000 customers taking part, who already have smart meters, will be told by text message or an alert on their smart meter display when they can expect electricity prices to be cheaper.
The results will be published next year, and if the trials are successful, they could pave the way for utilities to introduce new tariffs that encourage customers to make use of electricity at times when energy is at its cheapest or demand is at lowest.
The research will show if energy companies can help customers save money on their bills. The Energy Saving Trust estimate that customers can save £250 on their energy bill by using appliances differently. Read more
How to earn money from electric car drivers
With living costs on the rise, you may be on the lookout for fresh ways to boost your income in 2013. But would you be willing to turn your driveway into a garage forecourt of the future, with electric vehicle (EV) owners renting a space outside your front door to charge their cars?
A scheme is offering home owners in London the chance to do just that, with an EV charging point installed at their properties for free. Householders can then rent the charge point to EV owners and pocket the fee.
The project is being run by Source London (Transport for London) and Parkatmyhouse.com, a website that enables people to rent out private parking spaces, driveways and garages. Energy company SSE, the Government's Plugged in Places scheme, and charge point manufacturer Chargemaster are also involved.
Under the scheme, 200 home owners in the capital can have one of the new charging points, normally worth £1,500, installed at their property at no cost.
One major advantage for EV owners working or living in, or even visiting, London is convenience. Under the initiative they can book spaces and charge points online via Parkatmyhouse. Read more
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THE COMPANY VOICE
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Director Glenn Johnston is responsible for technical work streams within Smart Power including energy auditing, risk analysis and energy tenders.
Glenn started in the electricity industry in 1993 with the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (ECNZ) where he was involved in assisting customers to identify and implement energy saving initiatives. After the break up of ECNZ into smaller entities, Glenn went to Genesis Energy as an account manager working with customers to supply their energy needs. Glenn joined Smart Power in 2003 from Transpower where he gained a strong knowledge of electricity supply and network pricing.
Glenn has a Bachelor of Engineering Degree (Chemical and Process) from Canterbury University, is accredited as an Energy Auditor by the Energy Management Association of New Zealand (EMANZ). As an accredited EMANZ auditor, Glenn oversees all the work carried out by the assistant auditors.
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Energy Efficiency Funding
You will all be aware of the Electricity Authority levy which you see on each electricity invoice.
The levy is currently 0.1 c/kWh and of this 37% is tagged for electricity efficiency. This equates to about $14 million each year collected for use on electricity efficiency. The money is administered by Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority (EECA) and is part of the portfolio that EECA can use to promote and obtain efficiency.
You can look to get your levy back by obtaining financial assistance to reduce your energy use.
EECA has a variety of programmes which are strongly focussed on the implementation of efficiency opportunities. The energy audit is seen as part of the process to achieve efficiency. Funding is not just a maximum grant but targeted to a level that will get the project across the line. Additionally the results of the funding need to be verified back to EECA with kWh reductions that match the predicted levels.
For business the opportunities are:
Energising Business
For small and medium sized businesses - 1/3 of the cost up to $30,000 - this involves working through an EECA partner.
Commercial Programme:
* Commercial Project Grants - audit and works, continuous commissioning, monitoring and targeting. See additional information below.
* New Building Design Grants
* Direct Lighting Subsidises from EECA partner providers
Industrial Programme
* Audit subsidies up to a level of 40% up to a maximum of $20,000 per site - these are targeted at specific technologies listed below.
- compressed air systems;
- fan systems;
- pumping systems; and
- process heat systems (e.g. hot water or steam boiler systems).
- refrigeration
* Project implementation - 40% up to a maximum of $100,000 per site.
Central and Local Government
* Loans to assist central and local government organisations to implement energy efficiency projects.
* Grants for projects to convert to the use of wood energy.
* Grants are available for organisations that use a lot of energy to do an energy audit, design audit or fleet audit.
* Funding is available for government organisations for feasibility studies for smaller scale renewable energy generation.
Other sources of funding
* Some electricity retailers may be willing to assist with projects.
* There are still a variety of local energy trusts that may look to help projects.
* Some equipment providers are willing to do shared savings schemes or performance contracting.
If you have an opportunity that won't go ahead without funding, talk to your Smart Power representative about which option is best for you.
Additional information from above:
Commercial Project Grants may be used for:
- audit and works - projects to upgrade or replace equipment, e.g. lighting, refrigeration, heating and air conditioning
- continuous commissioning - systems that adjust energy use in your building continuously, in line with demand
- monitoring and targeting - systems that monitor energy use and identify areas for improvement. This may help identify further cost-effective upgrades.
Projects must deliver a guaranteed level of cost-effective energy savings. The level of EECA funding will usually be sufficient to ensure the project meets your own investment criteria.
Generally, EECA doesn't fund projects with a payback of less than two years - as they expect businesses to fund these themselves. EECA grants are aimed at getting cost-effective projects 'over the line' without over-funding.
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This newsletter was provided by:
Smart Power
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