PureWave UPS™ Cures Power Quality Problems for Pharmaceutical Manufacturer.

Background

A pharmaceutical company in Puerto Rico was experiencing over 50 power disruptions every year. In addition to losing valuable production, the resulting equipment damage was costing them over $80,000 annually.

But power disturbances weren’t their only problem. They were being assessed demand charges of over $90,000 annually by the utility company serving their facilities, due to poor power factor.

What did they do?

The plant is supplied at medium voltage, so a medium-voltage solution was essential. Energy costs and the lack of available indoor space were also concerns.

A conventional UPS system was considered. But its low efficiency, high maintenance, and requirement for significant indoor space were major drawbacks.

A 4-MW,4160-V S&C PureWave UPS System was specified instead. With an efficiency of greater than 98% and the ability to provide whole-facility protection, the PureWave UPS System was clearly the superior solution. The energy cost of the PureWave UPS System in this application is over $150,000 less per year than a conventional UPS. And the PureWave UPS System comes with a five-year, non-prorated battery warranty . . . the industry’s best.

The PureWave UPS System requires just 640 square feet of outdoor space; a conventional UPS, on the other hand, would require over 3500 square feet of indoor space. Power-factor correction capacitors were easily integrated into the system to resolve the poor power factor. Standby generators were also installed to provide power during long-term outages.

Results

The pharmaceutical manufacturer has estimated that the PureWave UPS System and standby generator enable the plant to produce $2 to $4 million of additional product per year by preventing the downtime resulting from power disturbances. And an immediate measurable savings of over $170,000 per year was realized because the PureWave UPS System has prevented equipment damage and eliminated the demand charge for poor power factor. The PureWave UPS System had payback of less than one year!

What did they do . . . again?

Several years after the initial installation of the PureWave UPS System, the pharmaceutical manufacturer significantly increased their production operation. The added load exceeded the 4 MW capacity of the PureWave UPS System and standby generators.

But the modular design of the PureWave UPS System made it easy to install an additional 2 MW of energy storage. In addition, a third 2-MW standby generator was added. The system now seamlessly protects the facility from power disturbances with 6 MW of power.