Plan and budget for motor maintenance and upgrades to assure the most energy efficient, durable and appropriate equipment is available when upgrades or breakdowns occur.
Best Practice of this action
Rating Guideline
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Create a motor replacement plan for key motors, to at least maintain efficient operation and preferably improve it; utilize utility conservation improvement program for motors. |
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Upgrade SCADA systems to use existing flow and amperage or kilowatt measurements as a real-time efficiency measure for key equipment. |
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Review energy use for proposed plant upgrades at current volumes of water treated as well as at design capacity to verify the plant will run efficiently over the range of expected flow rates. |
Resources
- See, for example, Energy Efficiency at a Small Wastewater Treatment Plant: Use of Variable Frequency Drives to Control Aeration Blowers (Illinois Sustainable Technology Center: 2013) where a 3.3 MGD plant for 5,500 residents saves $29,000/yr.
- Smaller MnTAP projects dealing with aeration motors in GreenStep cities have saved those cities between $17,000 and $66,000/year. For larger projects, the Minnesota Division of Energy Resources Guaranteed Energy Savings Program is open to cities to lock in verifiable ongoing energy savings from water/wastewater treatment plant improvements through performance contracting of deep retrofits without capital appropriations.
- The MPCA's Wastewater Infrastructure Needs Survey of June 2017 projected a 2017-2037 need for wastewater infrastructure throughout Minnesota at almost $5 billion.
Order Number
2