PMP launch - a resounding success

PMP launch - a resounding success

By Jack Ward, MD of Powermode

The launch of the Powermode Management Portal (PMP) in both Johannesburg and Cape Town over the last couple of weeks was a resounding success. The launch events, in the form of breakfast seminars, were extremely well supported by interested attendees from a broad cross section of commercial, industrial and public sector organisations.

Our guests enthusiastically welcomed the PMP. They learned that it is a locally designed and manufactured GSM cellular-based system geared to monitor a company’s standby power environment, reporting on a range of critical parameters associated with uninterruptible power supply systems (UPSs) solar PV systems and generators.

The PMP system - a technological ‘first’ for the SA market - is based on the universally-accepted principle of the Internet of Things (IoT) in which the Internet is linked to the physical world through any number of sensors which have the ability – and the true functionality - to radically change the way people manage their lives and businesses through resource optimisation.

The PMP launch was further energised by the presence of keynote speaker Chris Yelland, the MD of EE Publishers and an acknowledged expert commentator on SA’s power industry.

Highlighting the frequent power outages experienced by electricity consumers across the country, he said they were not caused by a lack of capacity (as they were in the days of load-shedding), but by the poor maintenance of Eskom’s aging and now increasingly unreliable grid infrastructure.

Yelland noted that Eskom’s vertically-integrated model of coal-fired electricity generation had not changed in 90 years, even though the parastatal’s monopoly is being challenged by independent power producers. He said Eskom is facing disruptive new technologies, such as solar power at ever-decreasing cost, and new-generation energy storage solutions such as the Tesla battery.

He said SA should move away from centralised planning to a market-driven model for power generation and create more opportunities for distributed generation, rather than produce most of its power on the Highveld.

In my presentation, I highlighted some of the results culled from a research project involving a large South African chain of 90 retail stores country-wide in which more than 80 hours of costly power outages were recorded during one month. Fortunately, the most damaging effects of these losses were successfully avoided due to competently-performing standby power solutions.

Not all organisations are so well equipped or prepared.

The research brought to light a key problem: Business owners are generally unaware of how effective (or ineffective) their standby systems are and how bad the consequences of power outages can be unless they have a significant deep insight into the operating effectiveness of these critical resources on a 24x7 basis - as delivered so cost-efficiently by the ground-breaking PMP system.

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www.powermode.co.za

Standby battery longevity: It’s a clever balancing act

Standby battery longevity: It’s a clever balancing act

By Jack Ward, MD of Powermode

The frequency with which South Africans are experiencing electricity glitches in the form of power outages and interruptions is on the rise. With ‘load shedding’ off the table, according to officialdom, these challenges are now being passed off as ‘grid maintenance’. This emphasises the fragile nature of the national grid and the importance of standby power systems.

Unfortunately, the repetitive nature of unscheduled power outages has exposed one of the Achilles’ heels of standby power devices; the dramatically shortened lifespan of their batteries (including deep-cycle batteries) when subjected to full depletion on a regular basis.

Now, in a bid to prevent premature battery failure, Powermode is offering the Q-on Battery Balancing Harness to assist users improve battery longevity and save costs.

It monitors and optimises the performance and efficiency of individual batteries in a battery pack on a 24x7 basis. This is achieved by a dedicated, computerised battery balancing solution that automatically monitors data streams containing information critical to the well-being of individual batteries, including temperature, state of charge and depth of discharge. The tally of the number of discharge/ charge cycles is accurately recorded.

Using this data, the system’s battery performance is able to be balanced and equalised. Should an individual battery’s operating parameters not meet design specifications or fail for any reason the battery is flagged for replacement - thus ensuring the integrity of the pack.

The key to battery longevity – and reduced maintenance - lies in a thorough understanding of the status of individual batteries in a multi-battery pack in terms of their duty cycles and load factors.

The technology featured in the Q-on Balancing Harness not only distributes and balances the battery load, discharge and charge regimes across all batteries in the pack on a minute-by-minute basis, but also takes steps to ensure that no battery is compromised through over-cycling or a malfunction of any kind.

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www.powermode.co.za

Understand your UPSs’ total cost of ownership

Understand your UPSs’ total cost of ownership

By Jack Ward, MD of Powermode

Thanks to South Africa’s frequent, often unexplained, power outages and disruptions, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems play a vital role in terms of keeping the wheels of business turning. Unplanned downtime can be costly. In fact, most organisations’ reputation and very survival depend on the availability of their electrical power supplies. This places the emphasis on quality purchases for these essential standby systems.

In this light, when budgeting for a UPS system, it’s crucial to consider the total cost of ownership (TCO) - rather than just the original purchase price. When operating costs and upgrades are taken into account, a unit with an apparently cheaper initial purchase price can often prove to be more expensive in the long run than a better-technology solution at a slightly higher original price point.

In reality, a UPS featuring modern, modular technology can reduce the TCO significantly, while improving reliability and dependability.

To secure first class UPS protection, business managers should accept that the best-performing UPS technology - as found in the latest modular systems - will cost a little more, but within a year the cost difference could well be recovered in its entirety.

Before explaining how this is possible, let me highlight the evolutionary path along which UPS technology has travelled, generating cost-saving benefits to complement improved technical performances along the way.

Legacy UPS systems, featuring transformers, were large and heavy when compared to today’s systems. For example, a data centre with a 120 kVA load could theoretically have been supplied by a single, cumbersome, floor-standing 120 kVA unit. However, because fail-safe redundancy is a likely requirement to ensure availability, this would demand the fitment of two 120 kVA units sharing the load in a 1+1 redundant configuration.

For the organisation that the two UPSs’ served, it meant investing in substantially more capacity than actually necessary. It also meant that neither UPS unit could ever be more than 50% loaded, which for a transformer-based system results in a significant reduction in efficiency.

With the advent of transformerless technology has come much smaller and lighter UPS solutions which can easily be incrementally added to a racking frame to achieve an application’s required power capacity and redundancy targets. Unwieldy, free-standing individual units are now the dinosaurs of the standby power world.

In our hypothetical scenario, the 120 kVA load can now be met by a single rack containing four, 40 kVA ‘hot swap’ plug-in modules. The load remains fully supported with n+1 redundancy, while the total UPS capacity has been reduced from 240 kVA to 160 kVA.

Although the purchase price per kVA for modular UPSs will be slightly higher than for legacy types, this difference will be partly offset by the reduction in purchased capacity - and in the floor space required for installation.

Moreover, significant savings in operating costs will also be made as the modular solution is more efficient than a transformerless implementation – especially one that cannot operate at more than 50% loading. Considering the 120kVA example as discussed, over a five-year period, savings could be as high as R 500,000.

And that’s not the end of the story. A modern modular UPS systems’ can slash operating costs even further by reducing the need to hold emergency spare parts. Instead of a slew of costly spares that might be needed, a single spare plug-in module will suffice.

This is true even when modules of different power ratings are being used, because simply holding a module of the highest kVA rating installed will cover all eventualities. A trained technician can hot swap a UPS module in under 15 minutes. Repairing by module-swapping in this way can save up to 50% on logistics and stock management costs.

Modular system upgrading is also far simpler, faster and cheaper as extra capacity can be added simply by plugging in additional modules without even interrupting power to the critical load. The lengthy building work, sizable increase in footprint and frustrating interruption to supply associated with extending traditional systems is completely eliminated.

One final point: A UPS system’s availability is increased if its mean time to repair (MTTR) is reduced. An attractive feature of a modular UPS system is its zero MTTR figure. If a hot-swappable module does fail, it can be withdrawn from the UPS frame without interrupting power to the load. A replacement module can be plugged into the rack immediately.

By contrast, if a legacy system fails, it must be shut down, isolated from its mains supply and repaired in situ; a process that typically takes five or six hours to complete. This means that, unlike a legacy transformer-based system, a modular UPS solution can provide ‘six-nines’ (99.9999%) availability which equates to just 32 seconds of downtime per year.

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www.powermode.co.za

Top 3 causes of data centre downtime

Top 3 causes of data centre downtime

By Jack Ward, MD of Powermode

Data centre downtime is costly – and the costs are rising exponentially. Globally, the average total cost of data centre downtime is today pegged at around US$ 9,000 (R140,000) per minute. Unfortunately, avoiding data centre outages is not always straightforward.

(1)  Human error

Human error is responsible for 48% of all data centre outages, according to a recent industry-wide survey. A lack of training, knowledge and experience is blamed for most failures. Miss-matched staffing structures with operational goals and the failure of employees to take ownership of tasks, systems and process are key problem areas.

One of the best solutions for proactively preventing human error-induced downtime in the data centre is automation. Although automated systems are designed and built by humans – and are this prone to errors themselves – routine tasks, including the configuring and management and monitoring of crucial systems, are best achieved through automation.

(2)  Cybercrime

Cybercrime is now the fastest rising cause of data centre outages. This is according to the Ponemon Institute. The research group says cybercrime is responsible for 22% of all data centre outages.

Increasing complexity in the data centre has been a boon for cybercriminals who have taken advantage of this to ramp up their attacks. One of the more obvious counters to this is to beef up monitoring systems. Perhaps surprisingly, many data centre managers rely on employees to monitorvital data centre processes when automated systems are far more advantageous. 

(3)  UPS failures/ power outages

According to reports, nearly 30% of all unplanned data centre outages are due to power outages and the failure of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems. Importantly, 55% of a recent US-based survey’s respondents claim that UPS battery failure was at the top of their list of causes for data centre outages. 

As power outages and disruptions are common in South Africa, UPSs have a vital role to play. UPS equipment failures can be dramatically reduced through more intelligent design incorporating standby systems purpose-designed for ‘cycle use’ or lengthy, repeated power outages which characterise the local landscape.

Central to these systems is a purpose-designed long-run battery pack which comprises a number of sealed deep-cycle batteries. Such a battery pack can often be retro-fitted to existing UPS systems. One of the major benefits associated with the Q-on LR (long-run) battery packs is a three-year guarantee - unprecedented in the battery industry.

Integral to this system is a state-of-the-art, computerised battery balancing harness that automatically monitors the state of charge of the batteries and reports to users - via a GSM cellular network - on a wide range of parameters associated with individual batteries in the pack. Potential failures can be identified and addressed immediately, before a catastrophic, costly and damaging impact on the datacentre can occur.

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www.powermode.co.za

Backup battery monitoring: A ‘must’ for companies in rural areas

Backup battery monitoring: A ‘must’ for companies in rural areas

By Jack Ward, MD of Powermode

In last month’s blog, I mentioned that an increasing number of electricity users - many in rural areas - are experiencing regular power outages, not as a result of load-shedding, but now under the banner of ‘grid maintenance’.

It certainly appears as if electricity consumers in country areas have a harder time of it than us city-dwellers. This has emphasised the fragile nature of the national grid in these areas and the importance of standby power systems.

For companies, this can be a frustrating time. Should the electricity and backup system fail and the lights are out, Speedpoint credit card systems are inoperable and security systems crash, the chances are business will be negatively impacted.

Having stressed the value of regular inspections and adherence to service regimes to help minimise inconvenient standby system failures, it’s time to talk about one of the newest solutions on the market, ready to obviate untimely, costly failures: A 24 x 7 standby backup battery monitoring platform.

The prevalence of unscheduled power outages – often longer than four hours - has exposed one of the Achilles’ heels of standby power devices; the dramatically shortened lifespan of regular lead-acid batteries (including deep-cycle batteries) when subjected to full depletion on a regular basis.

Now, in a bid to prevent premature battery failure, we at Powermode have brought to market a purpose-designed battery and UPS system monitoring platform – the Q-on Management Harness - to assist users deal effectively with power unreliability.

We believe its use is even more important in rural areas were the necessary skills to service, support and repair standby power systems might be scarce - and costly if imported from the city.

The ‘smart’ battery technology in our Q-on Management Harness monitors and optimises the performance and efficiency of individual batteries in a battery pack on a 24x7 basis.

This is achieved by a dedicated, computerised battery balancing solution that automatically reports to Powermode’s Operations Centre - via a GSM cellular network - on a wide range of parameters associated with individual batteries in the pack.

Data streams containing information critical to the well-being of individual batteries, including temperature, state of charge and depth of discharge, are measured on a continual basis, while a tally of the number of discharge/ charge cycles is accurately recorded.

Your system’s battery performance can thus be balanced and equalised and should an individual battery’s operating parameters not meet design specifications or fail for any reason we’ll send an alert via sms or email. At the same time, we’ll flag the battery for replacement thus ensuring the integrity of the pack.

As we know, the key to battery longevity – and reduced maintenance - lies in a thorough understanding of the status of individual batteries in a multi-battery pack in terms of their duty cycles and load factors.

The technology featured in the Q-on Management Harness not only distributes and balances the battery load, discharge and charge regimes across all batteries in the pack on a minute-by-minute basis, but also takes steps to ensure that no battery is compromised through over-cycling or a malfunction of any kind.

Regular daily updates on battery health and the performance status of UPS systems – together with the number and duration of the outages that have been addressed - are sms’d or emailed to you, giving you an insight into your company’s power supply issues and an idea of how well your standby power budget is being spent.

Powermode customers who have installed the system find that regular power outages have minimal impact on their businesses. In fact, outages are now regarded as ‘non-events’.

Some of our users have taken to actively marketing their businesses as ‘standby power equipped’. They see power mitigation as a competitive advantage.

Please don’t forget that Powermode also markets the Q-on LR (long run) battery pack, which carries an unprecedented three year guarantee on its individual batteries. A ‘first’ for this industry in SA.

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www.powermode.co.za

Nine of the most damaging threats facing your UPS

Nine of the most damaging threats facing your UPS

By Jack Ward, MD of Powermode

 With the frequency of power outages and the critical nature of South Africa’s power grid, it is important that standby power plants, particularly in large enterprises, are inspected, serviced and maintained regularly to the highest standards.

If an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system malfunctions it is almost certainly to be at an inopportune moment. The power has just gone out, the office is in near-darkness and the computer system has shut down. How much data has been lost? How soon can repairs be effected? What is the cost in terms of downtime?

UPS systems are constantly on standby, powering silently in the background. Imperceptibly, they face a number of threats to their wellbeing on a daily basis.

1. Battery failure

Probably the number one cause of UPS failures is the failure of their batteries. Battery life is influenced by many factors including storage conditions, ambient temperature, battery chemistry issues and shelf-life. As a result, battery maintenance should be top of a UPS user’s priority list. A good maintenance regimen will not only help prolong battery life but provide an indication as to when failure is imminent.

2. Transient spikes

Serious damage is likely to be caused to the input side of your UPS – this is the filter/rectifier siting – when a transient spike in the grid-supplied current occurs. Once again, preventative maintenance will help identify the damage and rectify it before catastrophic failure occurs.

3. Lightning

The scourge of Highveld weather, lightning can do serious damage to a UPS system and to the highly sensitive computer systems it is tasked to protect. Don’t be misled into thinking that the UPS constantly protects itself and the equipment load from lightning strikes. It comes down to the amount of energy in the transient. Appropriate repairs can then be initiated.

4. Capacitor failure

As small as a two-rand coin or as large as a Coke can, capacitors, like batteries, degrade over time. Most UPS systems contain as many as a dozen or more of these simple devices that store and release electrical energy. They come in different types and sizes. The effects of time many not be apparent, but a single failure will have a domino effect, leaving the other capacitors to work harder and fail sooner.

5.  Clogged air filters

Dust is the enemy, steadily advancing to block filters and cause progressive overheating of your UPS system. Regular monthly inspections are required to address this problem. The good news is – filters are the least most expensive components of an effective UPS maintenance plan.

6. Contactor failure

Contactors are prime collectors of fine dust and other resistive particles. They require regular inspection and cleaning to ensure optimum performance and guard against premature failures.

7. Power supply malfunctions

Although most UPS systems feature redundant power supplies designed to allow continued operation in the event of grid power outages, it is possible for them to degrade over time. Significantly, input voltage surges result in unexpected stress and overheating. Regular inspections are a ‘must’ if you are to eliminate potential threats of this nature.

8. Sticking or welded relays

The failure-proofing of relays is not usually at the top of the maintenance schedule. However, savvy UPS owners understand that sticking of welded relays may go unnoticed for long periods of time, revealed only when emergency change of state events occur. Appropriate inspection procedures are able to detect problems before they raise their heads.

9. Compromised surge suppression devices

Regular maintenance regimens will most certainly be able to verify that these metal oxide varistor (MOV) devices are fully functional and have not been compromised by excessive transients.

v With unprecedented levels of growth in the backup power market, Powermode boasts a nationwide service footprint in South Africa. We specialise in UPS and generator servicing – performed by trained and skilled technicians - with a focus on distributed enterprises and national retail chains.

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www.powermode.co.za

Is SA’s power problem a thing of the past?

Is SA’s power problem a thing of the past?

By Jack Ward, MD of Powermode

 If you believe Eskom’s chief executive Brian Molefe, then it’s time to celebrate: He says the power utility has stabilised its power delivery and there won’t be any load shedding for the rest of the summer – and through winter.

To give credit where it’s due, Molefe has commendably headed a new management team at Eskom that has, on the surface, resolved the parastatal’s service delivery problems.

But while he is doing his best to restore calm to the tempestuous waters of the troubled energy sector, there are a slew of challenges awaiting him, like shadowy spectres, in the dark recesses of Eskom’s aging infrastructure.

In addition to the scourge of illegal electricity connections and cable theft – which are said to cost billions of rand annually - Eskom’s poor infrastructure planning and inadequate maintenance are becoming increasingly problematic, leading to massive, costly repair projects.

Many power users report long, unannounced power outages caused by grid failures. Frustrated, they claim that load-shedding, with its regulated, predictable black-out periods, was preferable to the current state of affairs.

For those who view Eskom’s challenges from the ‘glass-half-full’ perspective, I believe there will be trouble in store when SA’s economy decides to pick up again. Quite simply, there is not enough electricity available to power any meaningful industrial or commercial growth. We increasingly hear of factories and commercial centres having their expansion plans shackled by Eskom’s inability to deliver enough power to support them.

As electricity consumers gaze down the barrel of a NERSA-approved price increase of 9.4% for 2016/17, we should remind ourselves that the hike will have a significant impact on consumer price index inflation this year, and it will be the catalyst for increased upward pressure on inflation-linked expenditure including social grants and free basic services to the poor who now number around 17 million South Africans. There could be danger ahead on this road to the future.

What’s the answer? For electricity consumers who decide to take the long view, there are very few alternatives as appealing as solar power. Rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) power solutions are among the most practical and they’re in use the world over by those looking to act responsibly to boost their energy needs, control of their carbon footprints and minimise harmful emissions.

In SA, while eco-friendliness might not be at the top of the drivers for the adoption of solar energy, an escalating number of consumers see it as an attractive, cost-effective solution. In fact, we have examples of a number of successful installations undertaken recently in which solar and generators have partnered successfully in hybrid solutions to resolve Eskom’s supply problems.

Solar is also seen an ideal hedge against electricity price rises which will be inevitable. Decisions to select solar power as the ‘go-to’ option are increasingly supported by developments in the field of solar technology, including the release of utility grid-connected, hybrid solar PV power systems capable of functioning as back-up as well as complementary power sources.

In the event of a power outage, these systems can be operated in three modes: linked to the electricity grid (grid-tied); as a grid-tied unit with genset backup (in a hybrid configuration); or as a stand-alone hybrid unit.

For those who look for ways to boost SA’s ailing economy, the rooftop solar PV market could provide a solution. According to estimates, there is a sizable market with potential for substantial growth for solar installations in SA. Sales of these systems could well help create hundreds of new small-scale businesses and hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the near term.

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www.powermode.co.za

Power backup: Predicting battery life expectancy

Power backup: Predicting battery life expectancy

By Jack Ward, MD of Powermode

Uninterruptible power supply (UPS), power inverter and hybrid solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have become central to the design and implementation of standby power supply strategies. At the heart of these systems are rechargeable batteries, elements as important as the design of the systems themselves - and possible weak links unless they are maintained and serviced regularly.

Correct battery care will help ensure the reliability and predictability of power provisioning systems. For example, batteries – particularly commonly-specified flooded lead-acid batteries - must be selected correctly and sized appropriately to ensure they meet their maximum expected life span.

Battery suppliers and power provisioning specialists are able to provide information for sizing batteries which varies according to a number of criteria.

In this light, an understanding of the various operating parameters, maintenance requirements and cost is vital in choosing the most advantageous battery for any particular application.

It’s important to be aware of the conditions that negatively affect performance and battery durability. What factors should be considered?

Ambient operating temperature.

High ambient temperatures shorten battery life by a factor of two for every 10-degrees Celsius increase above 25 degrees C. So when batteries are exposed to large swings in temperature, life expectancy can vary significantly. This is why modern batteries, although marketed as ‘maintenance free’ must be regularly checked and analysed to prevent untimely failures. In typically hot South African climate conditions, batteries with a stated 10-year lifespan will generally require replacement after seven years unless carefully maintained.

Ripple currents.

Regular checks will help to identify and rectify issues such as damaging ripple currents that can also cause premature aging. A ripple current is generated by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system or inverter which can cause an internal temperature rise due to power losses within the UPS/inverter capacitor which in turn raises the overall battery temperature with consequent loss of performance and longevity. Maintenance involves replacing AC and DC capacitors on a regular basis.

Depth of discharge.

Battery longevity is directly related to the level and duration of discharge and the stress inflicted upon it. To protect a battery from over-discharging, the specified ‘end-of-discharge’ voltage - the point at which a battery is considered fully discharged – must be respected. It is good practice to stop discharge at this point otherwise the result will be a reduced battery lifetime.  It is good practice never to discharge a battery beyond a maximum of 50 or 60%.

Overcharging.

Overcharging a battery is equally damaging as undercharging it. Batteries should always be allowed to cool after charging because the heat generated during the recharge and discharge cycles will accelerate grid corrosion, which is one of the major causes of battery failure.

Sulphating.

Batteries should not be stored in a discharged state. The sulphate that forms during discharge should not be ignored because severe sulphation could make the battery impossible to recharge fully.

Inactivity.

Inactivity can be harmful to deep-cycle batteries. If they sit for several months, a ‘boost’ charge should be given once a month in warm climates and every two to three months in cold climates. This is because batteries discharge faster at higher temperatures than at colder temperatures.

Maintenance – the art of battery balancing.

Substantial savings can be realised by regular servicing of a battery pack and managing its lifecycle. In this light, the key to battery longevity – and the maximising of an investment in batteries - lies in a thorough an understanding of the status of batteries in terms of their duty cycles and load factors.

Batteries such as those used for modern energy storage systems – either linked to solar photovoltaic systems or used in conjunction with commercial grade, long run uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems - are usually made up from strings of cells in series in order to achieve the higher operating voltages required.

They are particularly vulnerable to premature failure. The problem can be compounded if parallel packs of cells are required to achieve the desired capacity or power levels.

Providing a solution to this problem is the Powermode-supplied Q-on LR Battery Pack. It represents a ‘first’ for the energy storage industry in that it is backed by a comprehensive three-year, on-site guarantee.

Underpinning Powermode’s guarantee is the ‘smart’ battery balancing/equalising technology built into the pack. This includes a computerised harness that automatically monitors and reports - via a ‘cloud-based’ portal to the Powermode Management Centre - on a range of parameters associated with individual battery cells in the pack.

Data streams containing information critical to the well-being of these cells, including temperature, state of charge and depth of discharge, are monitored and a tally of the number of discharge/charge cycles is recorded.

In addition to a return on investment (ROI) boost, this knowledge gives users the peace-of-mind that comes with having Powermode in charge of the management and regular servicing of their Q-on LR Battery Packs.

Importantly, the incremental investment in a Q-on LR Battery Pack is more than offset by the savings associated with the escalating costs of early battery replacement.

Find us:

  

www.powermode.co.za