A high price for an under-designed process system

Because of an inadequate power system design, this metals company was being crippled by power interruptions and sudden power reductions causing machinery to fail. In many cases, the precise power quality issue that led to such a breakdown was not known due to a lack of monitoring equipment. The power quality events resulted in production stoppages of 2 hours on average, causing about 300 production staff to be idle. The cost of poor power quality for this company was further exacerbated by raw materials wastage, equipment damage, reduction of operating life time of heavier equipment and the additional maintenance required to get production up and running again.

This industry loses the equivalent of over 50% of its annual electricity bill due to Power Quality losses.