Efficient Power Management Strategies for High-Energy-Demanding Industrial Plants

In the present work, the authors present a comparative study of an electrical power distribution system. The work aims to study efficient and cost-effective ways to manage power in high-energy-demanding plants. By doing this, power losses can be reduced with economic and environmental benefits. As a case study, a galvanization plant is taking under consideration. Such plants indeed need a high quantity of electrical energy for the galvanizing process; hence, also a slight increase of the overall efficiency can lead to consistent economic benefits. The proposed plant in addition has a PV solar roof which is meant to integrate the grid for the process supply. In the work, the present situation is analyzed and a different solution is hence proposed. The plant indeed is now supplied with a medium voltage (MV) connection and transformed into three-phase 400 V AC low voltage (LV). Galvanization pools and auxiliary utilities are supplied with this voltage. Concerning the PV solar roof, the strips output 800 V DC. In order to exploit the PV produced energy, a DC-AC inverter connects the PV plant to the AC 400 V line. The presented structure involves several power losses which can be reduced by exploiting a more efficient power management strategy.