ROYAL PORTBURY DOCK
Completed: Summer 2014
Opened in 1977 and situated near the village of Portbury, Royal Portbury Dock is part of the Port of Bristol and is operated by The Bristol Port Company, handles a wide range of goods including motor vehicles and bulk cargoes daily.
The Bristol Port Company is committed to sustainability and minimising the impact on the environment. Therefore, when it became necessary to remove bus bars in its animal feed stores the company decided to take the opportunity to also upgrade the lighting. The choice was to upgrade the lighting to Philips LED CoreLine Highbay fittings in two animal feed stores at the Dock has delivered annual energy cost savings of over £27,000 with an estimated return on investment within 1.4 years.
Ashfield Electrical Services (SW) Ltd was asked to propose a solution that would reduce energy consumption while also improving the lighting. Ashfield’s John White recalled: “It was clear that LED lighting would provide the best solution so we consulted with Bristol-based lighting specialists [Connected Light] to explore the available options. When installing LED lighting our first choice is always Philips because of the quality and reliability. For Royal Portbury Dock we proposed using Philips LED CoreLine Highbay fittings and took samples to the client for their approval. They were also very pleased with the cost of ownership projections and the potential energy and carbon savings.”
Tony Ludlow of Connected Light added: “The LED Coreline Highbay is an ideal energy-efficient replacement for traditional high bay lighting using HID light sources. As well as providing a whiter light and improved light levels with lower energy consumption it avoids the problems associated with extended warm-up times for HID lamps.”
The stores, at 220m long, are configured with a wide roadway, capable of accommodating up to three lorries side-by-side, running through the centre of the store with bulk handling bays on either side.
The warehouses were previously lit with 100 fittings on either side of the roadways. These 250W high pressure sodium (SON) high bay fittings, with gear losses were taken into account, amounted to an installed electrical load of 27,500W. These have now been replaced with 108W IP65 Highbay LED fittings, resulting in a 61% reduction in installed electrical load, plus an increase in lighting levels of around 20%.
In addition to the savings in energy consumption and carbon emissions The Bristol Port Company will benefit heavily from reduced maintenance costs, as the new fittings have a projected lamp life of 50,000 hours, compared to 12,000 hours for the previous SON lamps.
“With higher light levels and a whiter light the new fittings have created a much brighter environment which has received positive feedback from many of the people working in the stores,” John White concluded.
