Last week, we learned about a New England-based dairy processor who upgraded from rotary lobe blowers to the more efficient rotary screw blower technology in order to meet the demands of its wastewater treatment facility upgrade. In this article, learn how the company financed the project by working closely with the local utility provider to decrease the project’s payback time.
Utility Provider Offers Financial Incentive
The dairy processor’s design/build engineering firm approached the utility provider with a proposal for new equipment. Under the utility provider’s new construction program, the engineering firm had to provide a comparison of product data; they specified a base case solution with equipment that is less expensive to purchase but also less efficient to operate, and a proposed case solution with equipment that requires a larger initial investment but operates with higher energy efficiency.
The design firm included a new positive displacement rotary lobe blower for the application’s base case solution, and the Atlas Copco ZS+ 75 oil-free rotary screw blower with variable speed drive as the proposed case solution. Using the positive displacement blower curve and Atlas Copco’s engineering data, the firm calculated the energy savings based on the varying load at the company’s wastewater treatment facility.
As Energy Savings Go Up, Payback Time Goes Down
Energy calculations estimated the Atlas Copco ZS+ 75 VSD would result in annual energy savings of 83,647 kWh compared to the equivalently sized rotary lobe unit. The utility provider offered the dairy processors $17,271 to invest in the more energy efficient Atlas Copco equipment, resulting in an estimated payback period of just 18 months.
In order to take advantage of the utility provider’s financing package, the company was required to install a kilowatt meter to record the actual power consumption of the new blower once it was operating. The company came to find out they are actually saving three times the amount of power initially forecasted, increasing the annual savings projection to $22,000 and shortening the projected payback period by approximately five months.
Energy Efficiency Affects Total Operational Cost
Energy represents about 70 percent of the total operational cost of an aeration wastewater treatment process, so investing in more energy efficient compressed air equipment pays for itself quickly. Plus, subsequent savings go straight to the bottom line. If you’d like to learn more about Atlas Copco’s engineering data, or want to get started on a facility upgrade, fill out our request a quote form and a representative will be in touch with you shortly.
