Organization Overview
The AVCO Center is a 142,300-square-foot commercial office building with a diverse electrical load profile that includes HVAC systems, chillers, elevators, parking infrastructure, and tenant equipment. As a mid-rise urban building with centralized electrical distribution, managing demand, power quality, and transformer capacity was critical to long-term performance and reliability.
To support its operations, the building is served by a 3,000 kVA transformer, supplying a 480V, 3-phase main bus with highly variable daily demand patterns.
The Challenge
Despite stable occupancy, the AVCO Center faced several electrical inefficiencies common to commercial office buildings:
- Elevated reactive power (kVArh) driven by inductive loads
- Excess supply capacity (kVA) required to overcome end-load VAR
- Suboptimal power factor across operating hours
- Increased transformer and infrastructure stress
- Rising energy costs without corresponding increases in usable power
Traditional efficiency measures did not address the root electrical inefficiencies occurring inside the building’s network.
The Solution
After a full engineering assessment, three MPTS™ H240 units were installed behind the meter in strategic locations:
- 1 unit in the 13th-floor chiller room
- 2 units on Level B near the main electrical bus
The installation followed a rigorous process:
- Utility bill analysis and single-line review
- Seven-day pre-installation electrical fingerprinting
- Independent pre- and post-installation metering
- Continuous live interval data monitoring
The entire system was installed and commissioned in two business days, with no downtime, no equipment replacement, and no tuning or load interruption
The Results
Measured and verified performance showed substantial and sustained improvements:
Electrical Performance Improvements
- 17.8% reduction in supplied kVAh
- 96.8% reduction in reactive power (kVArh)
- Power factor improved from 0.85 to 0.99
- Average of 69.3 kVAh of capacity released per hour
Fourteen-day electrical fingerprints before and after installation show a dramatic collapse in reactive power and stabilization of supply demand across all operating hours
Capacity & Carbon Impact
- 607 MVAh of capacity released annually
- 12,140 MVAh released over system life
- 269.8 metric tons of CO₂ reduced annually
- 5,396 metric tons of CO₂ avoided over system life
These gains were achieved without changing a single end-use device — purely by improving how electricity flows through the building.
Why This Matters
The AVCO Center demonstrates critical insight for commercial buildings:
Energy efficiency isn’t just about consuming less — it’s about using power correctly.
By removing end-load VAR and reclaiming wasted capacity, MPTS unlocked infrastructure headroom, reduced emissions, and improved long-term reliability — all while remaining maintenance-free.
Ideal Applications
- Commercial office buildings
- Mixed-use developments
- High-rise HVAC and chiller plants
- Parking and elevator-intensive facilities
