Sector · 05
Voltage optimisation for UK manufacturing and process sites
Food, process, and light industrial sites are where voltage-optimisation payback is usually fastest. Continuous, motor-driven load at high annual spend means the commercial case is typically straightforward.
Typical sites
Process, food, and light industrial.
Manufacturing is typically the strongest commercial case for voltage optimisation. Load is high, continuous, and dominated by the equipment VO has the most leverage on (motors, compressors, and resistive process heating). Annual electricity spend is usually in the £hundreds of thousands or more, which makes a fast-payback capex item easy to approve.
- Food and beverage manufacturing
- Cold-chain and chilled logistics
- Pharmaceutical and chemical process
- Plastics, injection moulding, and extrusion
- Paper, print, and packaging
- Light engineering and assembly
Why voltage optimisation fits
Continuous motor load, fast payback.
The V² power-law saving is most pronounced on motor-driven equipment operating at partial load, which is the majority of industrial electrical load most of the time. Compressors, pumps, fans, refrigeration compressors, and conveyor motors all respond directly to supply voltage reduction, in both consumption and in reduced thermal stress on the windings.
Food manufacturing and cold chain sites add refrigeration and chilled-storage plant to the mix, two of the most voltage-sensitive load categories in commercial electricity use. Sites with significant cold storage typically see savings at the upper end of the 7-12 % range, sometimes higher.
For sites with VSDs on their major drives, VO sits upstream of the VSD and has no effect on drive control. The VSD continues to run its programme. What changes is the voltage arriving at the VSD input, which itself is a voltage-sensitive device; modest savings are available at the VSD level on top of the savings on non-VSD motors.
Typical load profile
Equipment that drives the saving.
- Motor-driven process plant (pumps, fans, compressors)
- Refrigeration and cold storage
- HVAC, extraction, and dust collection
- Compressed air systems
- Factory and yard lighting
- Conveyors, packaging, and materials handling
Install considerations
Planned shutdowns and shift changeovers.
Industrial sites typically have a planned maintenance shutdown once or twice a year, and that's the cleanest time to install. We plan the install to complete inside a maintenance window, with commissioning finished before production returns. For continuous-process sites with no planned shutdown, we install on a non-critical feed or during a scheduled shift changeover.
For sites with on-site generation (CHP, solar PV, backup generation), the VO unit is configured to operate correctly with the generation tie-in. We confirm the configuration at survey. On-site generation doesn't reduce the VO saving; it changes how the net import is measured.
The M&V report for manufacturing sites is typically the most rigorous we produce, because the commercial scrutiny is the tightest. Baseline and post-install data are matched on product-volume and shift-pattern basis where production variation is material.
Case studies
Manufacturing sites we've worked with.
Named, permissioned case studies for manufacturing land in a follow-up release. If you're scoping a project now and need a reference on the call, ask when you book the survey.
Is your manufacturing estate a fit?
The quickest way to find out is a site survey. We measure before we quote.
Or email enquiries@voltasolutions.co.uk.