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LOCAL OFFICE TOWER SAVES ENERGY AND MONEY WITH MOTORS UPGRADES

Three Customers in One Building

Property managers for office space can feel squeezed when balancing prospective needs of tenants, managers and owners. At the Campbell Mithun Tower (CMT) in Minneapolis, they discovered the benefits of energy conservation and partnered with Xcel Energy to meet their objective.

CMT provides its tenants with comfort, reliability and a good value, while incorporating conservation into its strategy for fiscal by controlling utility bills because that's what can make the biggest impact on costs.

Proactive Approach Pays

Campbell Mithun Tower is a distinctive 42-story office building with 724,734 total rentable square feet, on-site retail and other amenities and underground parking. Facility staff signed up for an Xcel Energy engineering assistance study. After carefully measuring energy use and conditions, numerous engineering recommendations were implemented for efficiency improvements. CMT proactively replaced original motors that were still working to take full advantage of Xcel Energy's Motor Efficiency program.

The majority of the study's recommendations dealt with upgrading inefficient motors to NEMA Premium® efficiency motors and installing variable frequency drives (VFDs).

The Recommendation

Upgrade inefficient motors to NEMA Premium efficiency motors and install variable frequency drives (VFDs). Premium-efficiency motors cost a bit more, but the long-term benefits make them very attractive.

The Benefits:

  • Upgraded 16 air-handling units and water pumps with eight 100-hp and eight 30-hp premium-efficiency motors (rebates worth $17,160)
  • Add 27 drives (rebates worth $37,005)
  • Cash rebates from Xcel Energy to help offset the cost of higher quality, NEMA Premium efficiency motors
  • Reduced operating costs from energy savings and fewer maintenance needs
  • Better-built, cooler-running, longer-lasting motors
  • Increased reliability, less downtime, fewer repairs
  • Reduced air pollution, cleaner environment

Motor Efficiency Rebates

CMT replaced inefficient air-handling motors with new NEMA Premium efficiency motors that need less maintenance. By upgrading, rather than waiting until the old motors failed, CMT took full advantage of Xcel Energy's Motor Efficiency rebates at $16.50/horsepower (hp). In addition, CMT added drives to its motors and took advantage of Xcel Energy's Drive rebate at $30/hp.

 

Financial Summary
Total Cost of Motors and Drives $227,676
Total Xcel Energy Rebates $54,165
Total Annual Energy Savings $70,700
Payback Term 2.5 years

 

Offset your purchase cost with rebates from Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy offers prescriptive and custom rebates for installing NEMA Premium motors, "enhanced" NEMA Premium motors and VFDs (variable frequency drive—VFD, adjustable speed drives—ASD). Within each motor grouping are rebate categories for new motor purchases and upgrade motor purchases.

Enhanced NEMA Premium efficiency thresholds are 1% higher than NEMA Premium. Motors must meet or exceed this threshold for the enhanced rebate amount.

 

NEMA Premium® Motor Horsepower Rebate
New Motor Applications (new equipment or burnout) 1 to 500 See application form for specific rebate details. Rebates vary by motor type, hp and situation—new or upgrade. Range $25 to $13,500.
Replacing Operating Motor *Enhanced exceed Efficiency Numerically by 1% 1 to 500 See application form for specific rebate details. Rebates vary by motor type, hp and situation—new or upgrade. Range $25 to $13,500.
Custom Motor Over 500 (per motor) Individually determined under Custom Efficiency. Up to $400/kW saved.
* Preapproval is required.

 

New for 2010—Constant Speed Motor Controller (CSMC)

Types of applications:

  • People movers—moving sidewalks
  • Escalators
  • Any industrial/commercial applications that cannot be shut off or slowed down during normal business operation, and operate at a load factor of less than 20% more than 65% of the time.

 

Constant Speed Motor Controller - CSMC Horsepower Rebate
Prescriptive *5 to 500 $10/hp
Custom Over 500 Individually determined under Custom Efficiency. Up to $400/kW saved.
*Preapproval is required.
*Note 1 to 5 hp are not eligible for a rebate

 

Variable Frequency Drives

Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) Horsepower Rebate
*Prescriptive operating hours—on a fan or a pump 1 to 200 Rebate varies by hp with a range of $400 to $8,000.
See application for full rebate schedule.
Custom VFDs**
Custom		 > 200 hp Individually determined under Custom Efficiency. Up to $400/kW saved.
*Preapproval is required.
* On fans and pumps
** All VFDs not on fans or pumps

For more information on getting started, please visit http://www.xcelenergy.com/motorefficiency.

 

Information courtesy of Xcel Energy