Electrical Load Management Tool Design

Abstract

The purpose of electrical load management in a manufacturing plant is to change the load profile in order to gain from reduced total system peak load and increased power factor. One of the widely taken approaches is to optimize the schedule of electrical equipment operation hours to take advantage of incentives and favorable pricing offered by utilities. In this paper, we present our work in designing and developing a web based tool for manufacturing plants to find out an optimal operation schedule of equipment so as to reduce energy cost. The tool allows users to configure their load by specifying electrical devices and their various parameters. Then the online system will assess power consumption over a certain time period, as well as peak power demand and power factor of the defined load.