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200 kva 3 phase supply

PREES

Member
Location
SW Wales
We are looking at uprating the electricity supply to our Caravan park and it looks as though we need 200 kva 3 phase but the shock of the installation cost the real surprise was the suggestion that we would have to go on half hourly metering with a monthly standing charge of £1 per kva (£200) per month!! Is there any way around this? Because we are rlacing and consolidating three existing supplies (mixture of single and three phase) we could put in two smaller supplies if it helped. The installation costs would not be much more. £200/month is a bit excessive !!
 

PREES

Member
Location
SW Wales
Caravans these days are all geared up for electric and we only have tourers! We have future proofed by including capacity for some car charging points but we were surprised with the 200 kva requirements. What is really frustrating is that they only need the full supply on a couple of weekends each year when Easter is early and the weather is cold e.g. 2018!
 

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
Caravans these days are all geared up for electric and we only have tourers! We have future proofed by including capacity for some car charging points but we were surprised with the 200 kva requirements. What is really frustrating is that they only need the full supply on a couple of weekends each year when Easter is early and the weather is cold e.g. 2018!


If it’s only really short term, a switch over generator might make more sense.
 

upnortheast

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northumberland
I assume your cost is at leat £50k for a supply that size
What do the sums look like for a mains supply for 50 weeks supply capacity then hire a big genny to get you through the holiday weekends ?
 

PREES

Member
Location
SW Wales
If it’s only really short term, a switch over generator might make more sense.

Yes wondered about that but we need to increase and consolidate the supply for the rest of the year, so probably need something like 125 kva routinely (or to be honest when we are busy over bank holidays) and a generator for the killer holidays. If it wasn't for the standing charge I would be happy to bight the bullet on the installation costs just to know we have capacity if needed.
 

Netherfield

Member
Location
West Yorkshire
Used to be anything over 100Kva had to pay for Maximum Demand, we had a Maximum Demand Meter, it depended on the time of year how much it came to, but back in the 70s this was around £1000 a year, that was when it was 6p a unit for electricity.
Someone has to pay for that new transformer to supply your power.
 
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PREES

Member
Location
SW Wales
Used to be anything over 100Kva had to pay for Maximum Demand, we had a Maximum Demand Meter, it depended on the time of year how much it came to, but back in the 70s this was around £1000 a year, that was when it was 6p a unit for electricity.
Someone has to pay for that new transformer to supply your power.

The installation cost would be for a new transformer adjoining our site!

It's the standing charge that is the killer!
 

Lincsman

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Caravans use a 16 amp plug, at max use how many does it take to use 200 KVA?, I run 90HP of motors on a 100 kva without a problem

Even then there is diversification, like a house would blow its supply if half the stuff was on.
 

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
Caravans use a 16 amp plug, at max use how many does it take to use 200 KVA?, I run 90HP of motors on a 100 kva without a problem

200kva = 200,000 Watts?

So at 230v, that’s 869 amps.

Correct?

If so that’s 54 caravans at max peak usage simultaneously....assuming they all switch the kettle on at the same time.
 

case 5140

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Lleyn peninsula
Caravans these days are all geared up for electric and we only have tourers! We have future proofed by including capacity for some car charging points but we were surprised with the 200 kva requirements. What is really frustrating is that they only need the full supply on a couple of weekends each year when Easter is early and the weather is cold e.g. 2018!
sounds like it would be cheaper to run your site at half capacity on those weekends.
 
Above 100A per phase (72 kVA) supply is mandatory HH metering.

I’m no expert in caravan supplies, but if there is no reason to have all the individual caravans on one meter why not agree with your spark and DNO designer to have the site split into three metering zones. I’m sure you could easily argue a good reason for it.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
I was chatting with a local WPD engineer about some work being done here a few weeks ago, and he said that more and more customers are using peak demand generation sets to reduce costs, in some cases, dramatically.

Speak to a good Sparky and explore other options.
 

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Webinar: Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer 2024 -26th Sept

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On Thursday 26th September, we’re holding a webinar for farmers to go through the guidance, actions and detail for the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer. This was planned for end of May, but had to be delayed due to the general election. We apologise about that.

Farming and Countryside Programme Director, Janet Hughes will be joined by policy leads working on SFI, and colleagues from the Rural Payment Agency and Catchment Sensitive Farming.

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