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What is PowerGuard?

Reduce your electricity bill and make power trips a thing of the past.

Power demand management

PowerGuard® is an established IEC and SANS 60669 compliant peak power demand management technology. PowerGuard® is commercially and functionally proven with an installed base of over 1000 channels managed over the past 6 years.

Intelligent load shifting

PowerGuard®’s robust technology utilises intelligent load shifting of non-essential devices (such as electric water heaters or geysers, boilers, air conditioners, swimming pool pumps, etc.) and does it in such a way that substantial peak power reductions can be achieved without any impact or inconvenience to the end user.

In actual case studies of commercial installations, peak power demand reductions of 30 to 50% were achieved over a year period.
In actual residential installations, peak power demand reductions of up to 50% were achieved over a similar period.
PowerGuard® is fully automated, and operates without any user or utility intervention, management or control.
PowerGuard® is designed, manufactured and supported in South Africa.

There are three key areas of benefit from this improvement
in peak power demand management.

Save Costs
If you are paying peak power demand charges, the system could help you reduce your electricity bill by up to 20%
Reduce overloads or power trips
If you are experiencing regular power trips due to limited power supply, PowerGuard® can eliminate this problem
Help back-up or off-grid power systems cope
PowerGuard® can automatically switch between grid and backup load profiles, and help you seamlessly cope with reduced power situations.

Benefits of PowerGuard®

  • The “install and forget” nature of the system – the 30 – 50% demonstrated peak reductions are achieved consistently without any management or control intervention.

  • Minimal maintenance required. The PowerGuard® system is highly reliable, has a 2 year warranty and requires minimal maintenance.

  • Low risk, no upfront capital cost. Market-leading, innovative rent-to-own model for commercial customers – we agree on a fixed monthly instalment, with a guaranteed minimum savings. You will always pay less than you save.

  • No inconvenience to the customer. The existing PowerGuard® installations in commercial operations such as hotels, which are particularly sensitive to customer complaints and inconvenience, have proven that the system operates undetected or ‘invisibly’ – i.e. the substantial peak power demand reductions are achieved without any noticeable difference or inconvenience to the customer. *

  • Customer control / flexibility. The customer decides the hierarchy of the load shedding of their appliances (i.e. in what order appliances are switched off, and which appliances are switched off).

  • Intelligent receivers. After a power failure, appliances do not all switch on at the same time when power supply is re-established. The appliances switch on in a staggered manner, without any controller communication or instruction. This avoids the usual problems with so-called ‘cold pick-up’ situations – when the power comes back on after a power outage, many automated systems want to draw power immediately and this can cause a major peak or a power trip.

  • Simple installation. The PowerGuard® system is very simple to install and the installation can be done by any qualified electrician.

  • Can be installed in single phase or 3 phase systems, and works with low as well as medium voltage star or delta systems.

  • Ability for user to continuously monitor and power usage and peak power.

  • Phase-conscious controllers. Powerguard will only shed or control phases as they approach the load limit. The controller has the ability to shed the phase with the highest load first to assist in balancing the phases of the installation. Current based phase selective sheds ensure that only the transgressing overloaded phase responds to shed signals.

  • Secondary load profiles – the system can automatically switch to a different peak level and load profile for standby power (e.g. in case of a power failure and switching to generator or solar power). This is very relevant for commercial operations but is becoming more so for the residential market as well, as the generator installed base grows.

  • Can help match demand to constrained supply (such as Eskom / municipal supply constraints, or reduced supply from generators, solar, etc.)

  • PowerGuard® detects when voltage is out of range and protects equipment against over / under voltage.

  • Conforms to IEC & SANS 60669 standard.

This is achieved through intelligent load shifting, where individual appliances such as geysers are only switched off for short periods of time, so that there is no noticeable difference in e.g. availability of hot water.

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