PECM Issue 23 2016 | Page 58

Energy Efficient Motors Drive Up The Savings At Water Pumping Station To Almost £1/2 Million In Award Winning Project site upgrade at an historic Thames Water pumping station has given the 90 year old facility a new lease of life, improving performance and efficiency. Central to the success of the upgrade were the systems design and implementation capabilities of Boulting Pump Management, using energy efficient motors from WEG. Energy savings expected from the project are close to five million kilowatthours per annum – with a correspondingly spectacular annual energy cost reduction of £500,000. A The Littleton facility was designed in the 1920s with four steam powered, 900mm discharge horizontal, double suction, axially split case pumps, together delivering 3.6m at the duty point and each capable of supplying 340 megalitres of water per day. In the 1950s, three pumps were modified with electric motor drives, but very little had been upgraded since. 58 PECM Issue 23 Thames Water was keen to implement a project that would improve the efficiency of the station and reduce the energy costs. This long term project uses the financial savings made from improved efficiency to fund more work on other stations. In addition to the improved efficiency, Thames Water also wanted to increase average pump capacity up to 750 megalitres per day, simplify start-up, maintenance and control procedures and reduce operational costs. Remote facility operation To meet these objectives, Thames Water turned to long-standing project upgrade partner the Boulting Group. Along with improved performance, some of the specific project requirements included remote operation through an automat ed control system – minimising on-site personnel time which was making operation of the facility time consuming and costly. The Pump Management division of Boulting took a holistic approach to the project, looking at upgrades to the pumps, motors, gearboxes, drives and switchgear. A new control system would also be developed to simplify operation as well as reduce energy consumption and enable remote operation. A key aspect of the project identified by Boulting was the upgrade of the existing motors and to address this aspect of the upgrade the company turned to WEG. Boulting has an excellent working relationship with WEG, having worked with the company for two years on various projects to replace older, less efficient motors with newer high efficiency models.