Plant lighting project reduces energy use, saves money
Michigan Power
Owned by Michigan Power LP
Operated by Delta Power Services LLC, Affiliates of Olympus PowerLLC
154-MW, gas-fired, 2 × 1 combined-cycle cogeneration facility located in Ludington, Mich
Plant manager: Ken Tomaski
Key project participants: Danny Cox, plant engineer; Bob VanDyke, I&E technician; Becky Sparks, I&E technician
Challenge.
The plant was faced with the decision to spend budgeted money to relamp existing fixtures with lower efficiencies and higher replacement costs, or use that money to replace/retrofit all plant lighting with higher-efficiency lighting and lower replacement/relamping costs.
Solution.
Our commitment to environmental stewardship and cost-effective O&M made it an easy choice to replace and retrofit all plant lighting for energy cost savings and higher efficiency. In addition, occupancy sensors in low-traffic areas were installed to reduce energy costs even further.
Results.
Total project cost was $121,395 for labor, fixtures, lamps, materials, equipment rental, etc, to replace, retrofit, and add occupancy-sensor-controlled areas. The cost to re-lamp the existing fixtures would have been $27,772 which includes new lamps, equipment rental, and scaffolding erection and was scheduled for completion in 2010.
The energy service provider offered a rebate incentive program for replacing and retrofitting lighting. The plant reduced the total energy consumed per year by 71,719 W, which qualified for an additional $27,704 rebate from the energy service provider’s program. In order to qualify for the incentive program, the plant had to sign up for the Energy Optimization Program (EOP) rate with the energy service provider for at least one year, which added $9187. After one year at the EOP rate, the plant can return to the current rate. This yielded the actual cost for the project to be $67,465.
With annual power savings of $35,413, payback is approximately two years. In addition, the re-lamping frequency of the new fixtures is approximately eight years versus five for the existing fixtures, and the cost of new lamps is only $4226, compared to $9752 for the existing lamps. Another key benefit since the project has been completed is that the light intensity level throughout the plant is greater with the new fixtures.
