Measurement and Verification of Industrial Energy-Savings Projects – Lessons Learned By Measuring Successful and Not-So Successful Projects

Abstract

The current BC Hydro energy-conservation program is called Power Smart and was started in 2001. Of the 1200 projects completed to date over 300 have been in the manufacturing and industrial sector with savings of more than 400 GWh annually. The savings have been verified using BC Hydro’s Measurement and Verification (M&V) standards which follow the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP). High-cost projects with large savings have been verified using Option B, retrofit isolation measurement. BC Hydro has performed Option B M&V on 180 of the largest projects including fans, pumps, variable speed drives, compressed air, refrigeration, process controls, process optimization, heat recovery, high-efficiency motors, ball mills, refiner plates, pulp screen rotors and turbine-generators. Data is either gathered from existing metering where possible or in many cases BC Hydro installs temporary three-phase power loggers. The temporary loggers typically capture data in 15-minute intervals for several months during the baseline period and for 12 months of post-retrofit operation. This paper outlines several projects showing baseline and post-retrofit measurements. Successes, failures, and lessons learned are discussed.