The context
Specialist Trailer Hire’s large Leeds site urgently needed to upgrade its power demand capability following the installation of a new, all-electric spray booth, MOT bay and rolling road facilities. The firm’s baseline consumption demand was 40% higher than the previous year, and the Board was concerned to increase both overall power and to see the potential savings. They called in GRW to carry out a full site energy audit and find ways of making these mission-critical developments.
Scoping the site
GRW’s reviews always involve a wide range of measurements, examinations, tests and so on. In the case of this extensive site, key works included calculating the real demand for existing and new plant, mapping current intake points, measuring all plant locations and loadings and measuring wasted energy.
Enabling expansion…
To accommodate their expanding needs, Specialist Trailer Hire were pleased to accept GRW’s recommendations which included raising the current 200amp to 450 amp site-wide; installing soft start units on plant and LED lighting in workshops; balancing load across the site and introducing power factor correction units.
… and big cost savings
GRW installed a 150kW photovoltaic (solar) system able to generate clean, carbon-free power to offset the firm’s peak daytime needs and a subsidiary meter providing an extra income stream from exporting surplus solar energy to the DNO.
What a team!
Specialist Trailer Hire’s Group Manging Director comments, “This major project has made massive positive changes for us.
GRW showed leadership and professionalism and made sure they fully understood our goals and challenges. They invested a great deal of time and expertise in the planning and implementation, and without them we could not have expanded the site.
In fact, they were so good we asked them to carry out a full review our sister company at Rotherham, too.”
