Navy Public Works Center San Diego Utilities Metering Program A Case Study for the FEMP/Alliance to Save Energy Seminar on Metering for Federal Officials

Navy Public Works Center San Diego

Utilities Metering ProgramA Case Study for the

FEMP/Alliance to Save EnergySeminar on Metering for Federal Officials

18 July 2002

John ThomasNavy Public Works Center San Diego

Utilities Business Support Division Director

NAVY PUBLIC WORKS CENTER SAN DIEGO

Topics

• PWCSD background

• Genesis of PWCSD metering program

• Early efforts

• Meter reading

• Electrical Demand Avoidance Program

• Demand-Interval (D/I) metering

• Effective use of metering data

• D/I Metering at Over-the-Horizon bases

• Metering Lessons Learned/Conclusions


Synopsis

• PWCSD has approx. 11,000 meters

- 5,879 electric (2,211 are D/I)

- 3,966 water

- 903 gas

- Some steam and compressed air

• Annual utility costs ~ $150M to $200M

• Most meters read manually

• Meter data provided via web

• Value of metering clearly demonstrated


PWCSD Background

• Mission: Provide public works support and services to meet client needs

- Utilities

- Facilities maintenance and engineering

- Transportation

- Environmental

• One of nine PWCs worldwide

• Navy Working Capital Fund activity


Genesis of PWCSD Metering Program

• Client satisfaction with utility provider

- Are services reliable?

- Are rates low?

- Are bills accurate?

• Old policy

- Meter some tenant facilities

- “Engineered Estimates” for others

• To PWCSD all facilities are tenant facilities

- Disputes regarding estimates for unmetered facilities


Genesis of Metering Program (cont.)

• Options

- Pay the bill at the main gate, don’t worry about who’s using what/where

- A definite upside – least first cost and easy

- Pursue metering of facilities

- Include costs of metering in PWCSD utility rates

- Start with the biggest users

- Recognize it will take time…


Genesis of Metering Program (cont.)

• PWCSD Metering Policy:

- Meter facilities for electricity, water, and

natural gas at the point of connection to the

PWCSD distribution system. Evaluate

metering of steam and compressed air on a

case-by-case basis.

- Consistent with OPNAVINST 4100.5D


Early Efforts

• “Throw it over the fence”

- Give entire task to contractors

- Didn’t work…

- Not a core competency of most

contractors

- Is the meter properly installed?

- Meters usually set by local utility


Early Efforts (cont.)

• Need for specialized metering expertise was apparent

- PWCSD size/structure enabled metering expertise to be developed in-house

- Develop metering standards

- Install meters on existing facilities

- Ensure all repair projects or new construction require meters IAW developed standards

- Inspect (and correct) installations


Early Efforts (cont.)

• Meter shop

- Focused on electric meters first

- Most costly commodity

- Then gas, then water

- Leverage resources by using in-house expertise in conjunction with contractors

- Work with staff to investigate/correct metering

- Connect to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system where feasible


Meter Reading

• Accurate reading of meters a problem

- Attempted to emulate San Diego Gas & Electric company (SDG&E) meter reading program

- Purchased hand-held data collection devices

- Developed “Utilities Consumption Monitor” position

- Trained, trained, and trained

- Didn’t work

- Ended up out-tasking the effort to SDG&E

- Has been tremendously successful


Electrical Demand Avoidance Program

• SDG&E had significant demand and time-of-use surcharges

- Non-coincident and coincident or peak demand

- Peak, semi-peak, and off-peak usage surcharges

- PWCSD electricity rates mirror SDG&E rates

- Send the right price signals to users

- “Money talks” -- users decide if shifting load or reducing demand is worth it

- Requires demand-interval metering for accurate allocation of costs


Demand-Interval Metering

• Goal to encourage minimization of demand charges and time-of-use surcharges

• Initially planned to obtain data real-time via SCADA system

- Delays in implementing SCADA and high costs of SCADA limited this effort

• Installation of demand-interval meters for larger facilities was pursued

• Tremendous side-benefit -- load profiles

-Early software had limited usability and accessibility


Demand-Interval Metering (cont.)

• Initially standardized on induction-disk demand-interval meters with mechanical display

• No longer available -- industry moved to all electronic meters

- Required PWCSD to change to a multi-vendor meter reading handheld device

• Also wanted load profile data to be readily available

- Itron’s MVRS ™, MV-90 ™, and MVWeb™ chosen


Effective Use of the Data

• Metering data is vital for an effective energy management program

- Data must be provided to those who can use it to manage energy/water consumption and costs

- Today’s technology makes it much easier to provide the data in useful formats

-Must ensure the information that is provided is correct


BlahBlah


BlahBlah

METRO (LESS SHIPS AND LESS HOUSING AND LESS MCASM) AVERAGE DAILY CONSUMPTION

-15.5%-17.5%-14.1%-13.1%-11.6%-20.6%-11.6%-17.2%

-16.4%-14.9%

-17.3%-14.7%

-0.2%2.5%3.0%-2.0%0.3%-5.7%-4.9%

-2.7%-13.2%-11.2%-13.4%-15.4%

1,000,000

1,050,000

1,100,000

1,150,000

1,200,000

1,250,000

1,300,000

1,350,000

1,400,000

1,450,000

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTO

BER

NOVEM

BER

DECEMBER

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

MONTH SHOWN IS METER READ MONTH

KW

H

Same Period Two Years Ago (7/99 - 6/00)Same Period Last Year (7/00 - 6/01)Current Period % DIFF FROM SAME PERIOD TWO YEARS AGO% DIFF FROM SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR


D/I Metering at Over-the-Horizon Bases

• OSD provided funding to install D/I meters at other Navy Region Southwest bases

- Naval Base Ventura County

- Naval Air Station Lemoore

- Naval Air Facility El Centro

- Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach

- Naval Air Station Fallon

• Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (NFESC) providing turnkey project

- Navy metering expertise

- Assisting base with selection of facilities to be metered


D/I Metering at OTH Bases (cont.)

• Meter interval data will be uploaded nightly and available on the web• Variety of communications may be used

- Radio- Cell phones- Phone lines- Hardwire- Fiber optic- LAN/WAN- Power line carrier


Metering Lessons Learned/Conclusions

• It’s not easy

• It’s not quick

• It’s not cheap

• Get help

• Get the data to those who will use it

• Standardize as much as possible

• Have good specifications

• Ensure radio spectrum issues are addressed

• Consider connection to EMS or SCADA


Metering Lessons Learned/Conclusions

• Getting outages is difficult

• It’s not over once the meter is installed

• Use multi-ratio current transformers

• Ensure IT folks on-board

• Meter facilities to get the most bang for the buck (start with the biggest users)

• It’s not just about electricity

• It’s the only way to effectively manage energy/water usage

Documents

Navy Public Works Center San Diego Utilities Metering Program A Case Study for the FEMP/Alliance to Save Energy Seminar on Metering for Federal Officials