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Greetings
from the President...
by Teresa Herrera
Well. I feel like I've been out of the routine of San Francisco Bay Section life. This is because I've been gone for the past month on a cross-country road trip. There is a lot to be said for being alone with no responsibilities nor obligations. It gave me a wonderful opportunity to rejuvenate myself and I highly recommend it! We Americans have something to learn from Europeans in this regard -- four to six weeks of vacation should be the norm, not our paltry one to two weeks!
Upon my return I find no crises that need attending. So, I want to give a BIG THANK YOU to the Bay Section Board and Committee Chairs for holding down the fort while I was away. Sometimes we get into the mindset that our presence is absolutely necessary for things to run smoothly. I realize that this mindset can keep us on a hectic and crazy pace of life because we think we need to do it all! I hate to break the news, but we're all dispensable (in our jobs at least). This realization is actually quite freeing; there's no way we can 'do it all', so why even go that route?. Remember, then, to ask for help when you need it and that sometimes it's okay to say 'no' to a new task assignment.
Okay, I'm probably going to get in big trouble from all the employers out there, so I better stop this anarchist train of thought.
On some Bay Section topics - since this IS a Bay Section newsletter and you all are probably tired of reading my philosophies of life -
Some important future events:
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There will be no July dinner meeting. This is the month we usually take off for the summer break.
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Committee Appreciation Lunch on July 19th. Be Sure to plan on attending if you're active on a committee! This is our way of thanking you for a your volunteer efforts. Detailed information is included in this newsletter.
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We're planning a social event in August in lieu of a regular dinner meeting. Last year's event was a sailboat ride on the Bay and it was great fun! This year's will be, too (though I don't know what it is yet). Keep your eyes/ears open for information on this event.
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The Professional Development Committee is sponsoring a timely seminar, "Managing Costs during the Energy Crisis" on July 24th. This should be a useful and informative seminar and is highly recommended! See the enclosed flyer for registration information.
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I'll be attending the Northern Regional Committee meeting on July 13th. If there are any concerns, questions, comments that you have regarding the Bay Section's role in the larger organization of the Northern Region and/or the CWEA, let me know.
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We're still looking for a volunteer to format, copy and mail this newsletter. Soon, I'll have to start knocking on people's doors (watch out, this could be you)!
That about wraps up my "Greetings" for this month. Happy Summer Solstice. Take good care and be safe.
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From
the PWO...
by James Rockafellow
This brief note is to let all of you know that the Professional Wastewater Operators are alive and well in CWEA and WEF, even though the PWOD membership category (Professional Wastewater Operator Division) has been eliminated.
Upon our return from the outstanding Annual CWEA conference in Palm Springs, President John Larson asked me if I would be willing to serve as the California representative to the regional PWO group, an assignment I accepted eagerly. As your PWO representative, I will work to see that our voice in operator programs is heard at
WEF.
The April newsletter from the WEF PWO Director Bob Rutherford includes an announcement that should be of interest to the many plants with a design capacity of less than 5 mgd.
Operations Challenge II is the answer to the many agencies that have had a strong interest in the Operations Challenge, but have been unable to compete with a four-person team. Operations Challenge II will be a
two-person team competition similar in all other respects to the four-person events. The first Ops Challenge II will be held in conjunction with the Regional Operations Challenge event in Englewood, Colorado on September 21 and 22, 2001.
To compete at Operations Challenge II, a team must qualify through their member association Operations Challenge Committee as a small utility. Guidelines are:
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The utility cannot have a four-person team and a two-person team
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No member of the two-person team shall be a member of a four-person team
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The design flow capacity of the utility shall not exceed 5 mgd
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The operations, maintenance, and lab staff at the utility shall not exceed 20 people
These are general guidelines for determination of eligibility. The WEF Operations Challenge Committee realizes that different utilities have different needs and staff requirements. If you have an interest in fielding a team and want to know more about the events, contact
James Rockafellow at East Bay Municipal Utility District, P.O. Box 24055, Oakland CA 94623, phone (510) 287-1412, or e-mail
jrockafe@ebmud.com. I will send you a booklet that describes the events and includes a team registration form.
You may also contact the WEF representative Steve Harrison sharrison@wef.org. (703) 684-2400 ext 7715 for information. JR
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Using SCADA to Cash In on California's Energy Conservation Gold Rush
by Lou Mondello & Ed Myers; Provimetrics Corp.
With the California energy shortage, you can put your SCADA system to work, mining for energy savings buried in your process. Yes, there is gold in that data. The high cost of energy has created a unique opportunity to help solve the energy shortage, and at the same time, generate a healthy return on investment. The next two or three years are a golden opportunity to cash in on energy efficiency upgrades. For those plants with up to date SCADA systems in place, you already have a valuable research tool in your energy optimization program.
At the beginning of your search for energy-savings gold is the historical archiving function of your SCADA system. In the past, the primary purpose of a SCADA system was to provide a graphical user interface to the process. Now, with the added power available in productivity software such as spreadsheets and desktop databases, it is also possible to examine in detail large amounts of historical process data. An appropriate term for this examination process coined by the office information technology community is "data mining."
Provimetrics recently applied the data mining concept to a local municipal wastewater treatment facility. Their activated sludge secondary treatment process operates on dissolved oxygen control and requires considerable energy to keep the tanks fully aerated. Two 900 HP air blowers consume about $700,000 of electricity per year at today's rates. Since blower design is always advancing, and electric rates are climbing, an energy efficiency retrofit might make financial sense. We had to answer three questions: 1) How energy efficient are the existing blowers, 2) How would the best new high efficiency blowers compare; and 3) how does the higher efficiency translate into energy and cost savings?
The data mining operation consisted of taking 10,000 samples from year 2000 of the relevant process variables from the treatment plant's time-sequence SQL (Structured Query Language) historical database. The data was imported into Microsoft Access so the individual points could be grouped by airflow, a form that could be used to analyze energy efficiency. Figure 1 below shows the results. The left Y axis shows power demand in kilowatts (KW) plotted against airflow in standard cubic feet per minute (SCFM). The right Y axis has the airflow demand frequency; that is, over the Year 2000 sample period, what percentage of the time the blowers are delivering a given airflow. The top line shows the power demand of the existing blowers. The discontinuity around 18,000 SCFM is the result of a second blower being started, when the demand becomes too great for a single blower.
We can calculate the total annual power consumption by multiplying each point on the airflow demand curve by its corresponding power demand. The existing blowers use 7800 MWH (megawatt-hours) per year. The lower line shows the power consumption of newer blowers designed for high energy efficiency. This power demand line is calculated from performance data provided by the vendor. Power consumption is clearly lower at all points. As a result, the annual energy consumption is projected to be 4800 MWH per year, nearly a 40% reduction, and a cost saving of $300,000 per year at the recently increased electric rate of $102 per MWH. When we factor in payments to low interest loans provided by the State of California to finance the capital cost, the treatment plant will still pocket $200,000 per year in cost savings.
The most valuable piece of information, available only through the SCADA database using data mining, is the annual airflow demand curve. This is the key to accurate forecasts of energy savings when a varying demand exists. It is calculated in a relational database by grouping time sampled flow data into discrete amounts (in this case thousands of SCFM) and counting the number of samples that fall into each grouping.
Now the question comes to mind, "how do I start my own data mining operation?" Where do you begin? The answer is simple, start looking at areas of the process that consume the highest percentage of power. Secondly, another great source of information is NOT the computer itself, but your own operating staff. Many operators have years of experience and are already aware where the energy hogs lurk. They only problem they typically have is they can't put a number on it. So the next step is confirm your suspicions by actually starting a monitoring program to get some real numbers. In many situations much of this data is already being collected by the SCADA system. It may be necessary to add supplemental points to the system, particularly power monitoring equipment. Temporary power monitors are available on loan from PG&E.
And here is the icing on the cake. Once you can accurately predict energy savings from equipment retrofits, the California Energy Commission (CEC) is offering incentives in the form of cash rebates to reduce power during the critical peak period this summer. The CEC, for example, is offering a minimum of $250 per KW reduction during the peak demand period from 2 to 6 PM weekdays. These funds are applied to the cost of your energy reduction program. And to complete the funding picture, the California State Water Resources Control Board offers 20-year loans with interest at 2.6% specifically for the wastewater treatment plants.
With low interest loans, cash rebates, and the actual reduction in the cost of energy provided by increased efficiency, a positive cash flow is virtually guaranteed. "Mining the data" from your operation can be one of the soundest business investments available today. It also helps solve a critical energy supply problem in the state of California in the immediate and near term future, and provides a long-term cost reduction in energy.
There's gold in that data. Keep in mind that funding is limited, there are deadline dates, and it's first come, first serve. Are you ready to participate in California's new Gold Rush? !!!
You can learn more about this topic at the Managing Costs During the Energy Crisis Seminar on July 24 (sponsored by the Professional Development Committee).
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