Electricity North West’s voltage reduction trial could presage problems for companies who have installed or sell voltage optimisation equipment.
Voltage reduction equipment has helped a number of companies reduce their energy costs due to the National Grid providing mains voltage that is usually higher than equipment requires. However, some voltage reduction products work by stepping down voltage by a fixed percentage irrespective of the input voltage, this could result in a voltage that is too low for equipment causing malfunctions or damage.
“Companies should check whether they have installed fixed voltage reduction equipment,” said Martin Ward, managing director of voltage optimisation specialists Claude Lyons. “If so, they might want to consider changing to voltage stabilisation equipment where the voltage is dynamically optimised.”
Lyons added that the increased deployment of low carbon technology could result in voltage reduction practices from DNOs become more frequent, increasing the need to check current voltage optimisation equipment for companies.
