Staco Energy – 2011 Year In Review

Nov 292011
 
Our “A New Dawn” 75th Anniversary Celebration

Staco Energy Enters into “A New Dawn” 75th Anniversary.

Time sure flies when you are busy – and our engineering, marketing, and sales teams have been busy over the past year.  Rather than rest on our laurels, we are charging into “A New Dawn” 75th anniversary by launching major new products tailored to the unique needs of specific industries.  These products keep critical customer components operating at all times – and with less cost – giving you, our customers, a competitive advantage.  A brief recap of these many marketing and product development activities follows:

 

 

 

FirstLine P 65-125kVA Three Phase Online UPS models

This 480V Three Phase Online UPS family was introduced in January 2011 and is proving to be very popular.  It covers a wide input voltage range – 480V +/- 10% making it ideal for SMB data center applications where affordability, efficiency, reliability, availability, and flexibility are essential. The 65kVA model, added in October, is our latest addition.

 

 

 


FirstLine PL 10-100kVA Three Phase Online UPS models

To address the needs of 208V installations, we introduced this UPS family in January 2011 – which has been well accepted.  It covers a wide input voltage range – 208V +/- 10% making it ideal for many applications – including network closets, computer rooms, and small data centers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FirstLine BMS Wireless Battery Monitoring System

Launched in February, 2011, this uniquely wireless easy-to-install product is an ideal complement to the FirstLine P,  FirstLine PL, and can be deployed with all battery types and applications, both new installs and retrofits.

 

 

 

Staco’s Total SMB Data Center Solutions

All of the above have created a platform foundation for providing tailored SMB solutions for IT network closets, computer rooms, and small data centers.

 

StacoVAR mini

Launched in August, our newest addition to the StacoVAR product family, allows customers to use their supplied power more efficiently.  In addition, we re-launched our Fixed Capacitor banks.   Editors also saw the value in these programs – as they provided in-depth editorial coverage including “The Economics of Improving Power Factor” in Consulting/Specifying Engineer, and “Go Green with PFC” which ran in the August issue of Electrical Line magazine

Our Online Home – www.stacoenergy.com

Completely re-invented, check out our new online tools – including easier product and industry solutions search, more detailed information on products, applications, news, all intended to maximize the access to information in the least amount of time.

Published Articles

Our thought leadership in this “Staco Universe” market was augmented by the Broadcast Engineering article “Backup Power, Find out What Type of UPS System is Best for Your Facility”, Processor “Powering Your Data Center’s Future”, August, “Pinpoint Energy Hogs” October, and “Buying UPSs” November.  Our latest is the Distributed Energy “Is Poor Power Factor Correction Costing You Money” November/December edition article.  All are posted to News, Articles and Testimonials.

Channel Development

To help take our new products and services to the market, we’ve bolstered our rep/distributor network through a combination of recruitment and inbound requests.  We continue to provide training through webinars, field visits and application-specific industry experts who are available as needed to support our channel partners and customers.

 

Communications and Social Media

We have created a new Power Quality Connect blog, e-newsletter, and VIP registration, including social media connections to Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin,  all targeted at extending our brand reach.

Clearly it has been a busy year – and a good one.  As we enter into our “A New Dawn” 75th Anniversary, we’re better prepared than ever to provide tailored power solutions to customers in a wide array of industries.  Our broad range of products – including Voltage Control, Uninterruptible Power Supplies, and Power Factor & Harmonics – allows us to serve the diverse needs of our customers.

To stay in touch please join our Power Quality Connect VIP List, click on this link and enter your email address:

http://www.stacoenergy.com/newsletter.htm

 

IT and Facilities – Bridging the Gap

Nov 282011
 

Open Communications between IT and Facilities is Important

Communications and understanding of the divergent objectives of both facilities and IT management are best described as two sides of the same fence.  On one side, IT is pressured by eternal forces to deliver service levels, compliance, energy costs and cost control.  IT internal forces include high density, virtualization, intelligent infrastructure, and capacity utilization. On the other side, facility management is focused on building infrastructure, essential services, production equipment, and maintenance.

The handshake by both over the top of the fence requires a better understanding by facilities of the special needs of IT, and IT needs to respect the facility skill sets that ultimately can provide an optimized result.

Keys to Success

Both IT and facility management share common needs, which should be reinforced by the development of both short and long range business planning as a requirement, where executive management provides the framework and environment that requires effective integration of their dependent goals and objectives.

Unfortunately, both IT and facilities are prone to traditional thoughts and behavior.  Both should take the time to truly understand the special needs of IT, which is divergent from the normal operational needs for the rest of the business. By taking the time to create understanding up front, IT architects and operations planners can join efforts, with a far more optimized result.

Common Barriers

IT faces tight operating budgets, and often lacks executive support. Facilities management should be an advocate for IT, and make sure management knows what is required to support IT needs. Facility management should be aware of what is required for designing and maintaining technology infrastructure.  Do not begin with the expectation that IT will know what it will take to protect their systems. IT administrators often are narrowly focused on technology, and need the support of facilities to recognize potential problems and needs upfront.

A common pitfall, which is a key to understanding, communications, made more difficult by educational backgrounds, IT and liberal arts, and facilities and engineering are often two separate ways to interact. Care should be taken to focus on
common needs, not to try to compete for position.  Poor relationships and communication barriers will only serve to stand in way of effectively working together.

Methodology

There are a variety of process-driven methodologies, one of the most robust is ITIL V3, which is a roadmap for the steps and processes that are required.  Software based programs exist in a variety of formats. Nothing should be a substitute or excuse not to engage in formal business planning, both short and long term.  The time spent here will most certainly pay dividends.

The costs will depend on methodology.  Training in the use of formal tools is essential, when utilized.  Ongoing communications during the business planning process is key.  The benefits will far outpace the time and energy expended.  A major catastrophic event can take weeks or months to recover, and may well result in a threat to the very existence of the enterprise.

Summary

The opportunity for IT and Facilities to meet on common ground without compromising their core focus is possible without having to tear down the fence, have the kids play daily, and watch football together on weekends. The payback result to the enterprise, as well as those who take this leap of faith, is a game changer.

To stay in touch please join our Power Quality Connect VIP List, click on this link and enter your email address:

http://www.stacoenergy.com/newsletter.htm

 

 

 

Poor Power Factor Performance – Is IT Costing You Money?

Oct 312011
 
Bauxite Mining Operation

Low power factor problems are a common occurance at facilities that operate heavy loads such as induction motors.  Most often, plant managers discover the problem when the utility bill arrives with an unplesant surprise, costly power factor penalty or peak kVA demand billing catagory to compensate for the “total power” required by a customer. Other signs of power factor problems are motors running hotter than usual and transformers being overloaded.

“A low power factor means uncorrected heavy motor loads from indusction motors in heavy machinery or HVAC equipment” says Rich Zucarro, Power Factor Program Manager, Staco Energy Products Company.  “Poor power factor can cause low voltage.  When motors run at low voltage they require additional maintenance and are more likely to burn out.”  Correcting power factor problems with capacitors is the answer, and is evidenced by the experience of a mining company that relies on large diesel generators for their on-site power generation the savings on fuel and maintenance make for and astonding return on investment.

In this case, the customer mines bauxite for aluminum, and operates two 1.6 MW, plus two MW diesel generators.  Fuel expenditures can exceed $5 Million a year.  Maintenance and engineering determined that they could experience savings with the addition of power factor correction capacitors, and launched the project. They were surprised when they did the calculations and how fast the payback could be realized.

The expected saving is $650,000 peryear from the project, and the expected payback is in less than a year.  They have lots of generators that will be alternated when they need power and this will allow them to use the  generators less per day, so the operating hours and operations will benefit.   The plant;s power factor before the project was 74 percent, a relatively low power factor, according to Zucarro.  A correction to 90 to 95 percent is typical to avaid utility penalties, where they chose to correct to 95%

“The interesting thing was they had asked us to look at a number of variable frequency drives and those drives generate harmonics” says Zucarro.  “Capacitors don’t operate very well in a harmonic-rich environment due to the high frequency of the harmonics.  However, we were able to apply several de-tuned capacitor banks which reduced the harmonic level at the capacitors to operate successfully and further increase fuel savings.”

To stay in touch please join our Power Quality Connect VIP List, click on this link and enter your email address:

http://www.stacoenergy.com/newsletter.htm

 

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