ENERGY CONSERVATION POTENTIAL WITH ELECTRONIC ADJUSTABLE SPEED MOTOR DRIVES

Motor driven systems are the single largest end user of electrical energy produced by a nation. Demand side energy management techniques such as the electronic adjustable speed drives (EASD) could lead to major energy savings in a rapidly developing country. Electronic ASD'S however can be of several type and so are the electric motors. Technology assesment of such drives together with some success stories and some risks are discussed in this paper. As an example, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be considered. Potential areas of application within the kingdom are identified and examples of simple payback on typical drive retrofits are given.