Older cultivation facility, still running magnetic ballast HPS across most of the canopy. Power
factor is sitting at 0.84 and the utility penalty is meaningful.
Straightforward capacitor bank case except for one thing I want to think through before recommending
it.
Client is planning an LED conversion within about 18 months. LED drivers are typically corrected at
the fixture and run 0.95 or better. So the power factor problem largely disappears when the lights
change.
If I recommend the capacitor bank now, the client spends roughly 28,000 to solve a problem that
resolves itself in a year and a half, and then has a capacitor bank that is oversized for the
corrected load, which can actually push them leading and create a different penalty.
So my recommendation is to do nothing on power factor and accelerate the LED decision, treating the
avoided penalty as part of the LED business case rather than a separate project.
Anyone see a flaw in that? The only thing nagging me is whether an oversized bank can be
reconfigured by removing stages rather than replaced outright.
factor is sitting at 0.84 and the utility penalty is meaningful.
Straightforward capacitor bank case except for one thing I want to think through before recommending
it.
Client is planning an LED conversion within about 18 months. LED drivers are typically corrected at
the fixture and run 0.95 or better. So the power factor problem largely disappears when the lights
change.
If I recommend the capacitor bank now, the client spends roughly 28,000 to solve a problem that
resolves itself in a year and a half, and then has a capacitor bank that is oversized for the
corrected load, which can actually push them leading and create a different penalty.
So my recommendation is to do nothing on power factor and accelerate the LED decision, treating the
avoided penalty as part of the LED business case rather than a separate project.
Anyone see a flaw in that? The only thing nagging me is whether an oversized bank can be
reconfigured by removing stages rather than replaced outright.