Product Feature of the Month

Introducing the Energy Platform EP1

Dranetz-BMI is proud to introduce our new portable energy analyzer, the Energy Platform model EP1. With the growing adoption of alternative forms of energy such as wind, solar and other technologies along with increased emphasis on energy conservation, the energy market is growing rapidly. The EP1 is a modern, powerful, yet cost effective and competitively priced energy monitoring solution. For those familiar with Dranetz-BMI it may help to consider Energy Platform as a modern version of the 808, 8000-2 3030/60 or 4300 TaskCard 808.




 

Key features of Energy Platform are Power, Demand/Energy, time of use (time of day usage), energy costs along with a new carbon footprint calculator. The EP1 also provides advanced computations such as forward and reverse energy which are useful in alternative energy applications to know how much power is added or taken from the grid. Being derived from more advanced instruments such as our PowerXplorer, Energy Platform has automatic setups and new colorful Demand of Energy reports so it is very easy to set up and use. Energy Platform is packaged with a CF data card, voltage leads, soft carry case and your choice of CT's (clamp, flex, etc). Also included is new, unlicensed (no hasp) software called Energy Platform Report Writer (EPRW) which produces easy to read, user selectable reports including, voltage and current, harmonics, demand & energy, time of use and energy cost calculator using actual energy rates. Reports are created in an RTF format for easy use in any text editor. Data can also be exported to a .csv files for use in Microsoft Excel or other software packages. Energy Platform is fully compatible with our award winning DranView software. An EP1 driver and Energy Audit report are available for DranView so our current customers can add EP1 to their current DranView software. Also, the new Energy Audit report is also compatible with our current PowerVisa, PowerGuide and PowerXplorer products so users can add advanced energy and analysis to their existing products.

Application Note: 2 Week Energy Survey

Willows Swim Club is a private, member-owned swimming and recreational facility located in central New Jersey. The swim club provides kitchen space to a local restaurant to operate a food concession. Being offered as a service to its membership, there is presently no charge for rent or utilities. However, given the current economic climate the swim club is considering charging the concession operator next season to be reimbursed for the utility costs incurred operating the concession area. The primary objective of this energy audit was to measure the electrical demand and energy consumption of the concession area to determine demand and usage during an average summer peak operating period, representing worst case Demand and Energy usage. This information will be used to determine reasonable utility charges when negotiating the contract for next season.

The swim club is seasonal business operating during the summer months from Memorial Day to Labor Day each year. The concession operates 7 days a week from about 11am to 7pm each day. Certain days have extended hours due to demand and other factors but days can also be shortened due to inclement weather. Swimming pools are outdoors so the facility may close or limit operating hours due to rain or cool temperatures. The concession area electrical loads are primarily comprised of cyclical loads such as refrigerators, freezers and room air conditioners but constant loads such as overhead lighting exist.

A two week energy using the Dranetz-BMI Energy Platform EP1 was conducted from July 14, 2009 to July 28, 2009. The EP1 was connected to the dedicated 120V split phase sub panel feeding the concession area. Two model TR2550, 100A CT's were used for current measurements.

Below is the demand profile recording during the survey with the Peak Demand overlaid. Data is shown in DranView 6 software:

 

Survey results indicate the following:

• Peak demand measured during the period was 7.353 KW.
• Total electricity consumed was 1375.6 KWh
  • The survey ran for 13.95 days with an average consumption of about 98.5 KWh per day
• General observations
  • The demand was cyclical and peaked during mid day hours as expected.
  • More consistent demand profile was observed during the first week of the survey vs. the second week.
  • Local weather data during the monitoring period was obtained from the Internet and compared to the demand profile. The comparison indicated rain and poor weather conditions corresponded with the reduction and inconstancy of the demand measured during the second week of the survey. Since such weather is consistent with a normal summer in the area this demand data should be included in the overall 2 weeks results being considered normal.

Electricity Cost Estimation

The local utility is Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) Company. New Jersey, being a deregulated state provides consumers the option to purchase electricity supply from an independent provider other than the delivery company. The facility owner chose PSE&G as the electricity supplier so both Delivery and Supply charges come from the one utility. Even though the swim club is a comparatively small consumer of electricity the utility bill is more complex than a residential bill. The utility rate structure applied is PSE&G's GLP, General Lighting & Power rate. Also being the electricity supplier, PSE&G charges their BGS, Basic Generation Service rate structure for supply charges. The resultant utility bill demonstrates the complexity of billing in a deregulated energy environment and also the importance of understanding your electrical usage in order to manage and reduce your utility costs:

• Delivery:
  • Service charge: $4.27
  • Distribution charges
    • Annual Demand @ $3.9202/KW
    • Summer Demand @ $7.2755/KW
    • KWh charges @ $0.0145/KWh
  • Societal Benefits (recovery of costs incurred achieving government policy)
    • @ $0.0075/KWh
  • Securitization Transition (bond finance charges)
    • @ $0.0104/KWh
• Supply:
  • BGS Capacity (generation & transmission)
    • This is a complex calculation that represents the customers share of the overall peak load assigned to the utilities transmission zone.
  • BGS Energy (tiered usage per KWh)
    • @ $0.1089/KWh (first tier < 9755 KWh)

Being such a complex rate structure with many billing factors, it can be difficult to relate some of these costs to actual usage by the concession. Since the objective is to estimate worst utility costs, a fair method was found with the following assumptions taken into account:

• The operation of the swim club during the 2 week survey was deemed typical and representative of an average two week period during peak summer months.
• Actual usage results will be used in the estimated charges opposed to determining a percentage of the concession usage vs. the overall bill.
• Service charge will be 100% paid by the owner
• BGS capacity charge will be ignored since there is no fair way to determine the concessions portion of these charges. The owner will bear this charge.
• The various KW Demand and KWh Energy utility charges can be consolidated into one charge for KW and KWh portions of the estimate:
  • Consolidated KW Demand charge is $11.1957
  • Consolidated KWh Energy charge is $0.1413

By using DranView's new Energy Audit Report the Demand and Energy costs during the monitoring period can be easily determined and summarized:

When adding the Demand and Energy charges above, the total Demand and Energy charge for this 14 day period is estimated at $276.70 or about $471 when extrapolated to one month (demand charge is not extrapolated being billed as pk demand). This is the reference swim club management was looking for and will be used as the basis for determining fair charges for next season. Since this information can only estimate charges, a Dranetz-BMI Encore Series ES series meter (ES230, ES220, ES210) is being considered as a permanent monitoring solution to continuously meter usage to determine actual usage on an ongoing basis.

Trade-In Program - $1,000 for your 4300!

Not that any Dranetz-BMI products can ever be considered a clunker but technology can quickly get ahead of some of our legacy products. Do you long to enjoy a new, modern power monitor and take advantage of the productivity of advanced features such as a color/touch interface, huge memory and support for current power monitoring standards? If so, consider trading in your old product for a shiny new one with more MPG - Monitoring Per Gigabyte! Dranetz-BMI is sweetening our already popular trade in program by doubling the trade in value of the 4300 from $500 to $1,000 for a limited time only! This offer is applicable towards the purchase of our PowerGuide 4400 and PowerXplorer PX5/PX5-400 instruments only. The government gave you a month for the Clunker program but we are giving you until the end of the year to take advantage of this generous offer!

See the table below for other trade in offers. We also accept trades for RPM units and our current Dranetz-BMI instruments can even use RPM CT's! Contact you local sale representative for details.

 

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