ABB brings energy efficiency and savings at a Pepsi bottling plant in India in one day

ABB has delivered a power quality solution to PepsiCo in India, reducing electricity bills at one of its bottling plants by 5 to 10 per cent annually, delivering a return on investment of less than two years. The innovative technology behind the energy efficient solution is ABB’s dynamic and step-less reactive power compensation equipment, PQC-STATCON. 

PepsiCo is a well-recognized global player in beverages and snacks and as a major consumer of electricity, the company is committed to energy efficiency across its operations. By its very nature, a beverage bottling plant deploys a large number of motors and compressors which are highly inductive in nature. This leads to reduction in the ’Power Factor’ of the electricity supplied from the grid Simply put Power Factor (PF) is a measure of how efficiently electrical energy is utilized. The closer the PF is to 1, the lower the amount of power lost in transmission and distribution and in turn, the higher the efficiency. In fact, several electricity utilities including the local utility in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India where PepsiCo’s bottling plant is located impose a penalty for low power factor in the network resulting from a consumer’s ‘loads’. 

ABB conducted a study at for PepsiCo India to identify an optimal solution to enhance the power factor at its bottling plant, based on the nature and behavior of its ‘loads’. PQC-STATCON was considered an optimum solution based on its capability to provide instantaneous dynamic reactive power compensation, load compensation and balancing ability and voltage stability improvement features. 

The PQC-STATCON is based on Voltage Source Converter (VSC) technology which utilizes Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT) or power semiconductor switches. These fast acting switches enable precision control enabling the PQC-STATCON to provide instantaneous and step-less compensation for dynamic reactive power (inductive as well as capacitive) and unbalanced loads. 

As a result, the power factor has improved close to unity from its previous level of 0.94, resulting in significant energy efficiency gains and yielding savings of 5 to 10 percent in annual electricity charge, benefitting from the local billing scheme of the utility. Based on the savings rate, the expected ROI (Return on Investment) on the solution is less than 2 years. 

And to ensure that not a day of savings potential was sacrificed, ABB’s High Voltage Products team in India delivered the solution on the same day as the order was placed by Pepsi Co.!