EU motor rules ‘miss a trick’
The EU has agreed regulations requiring all
motors – except for brake motors, those used at
above 400°C and ATEX motors – to meet
minimum efficiency standards. The regulations
are based on the recently introduced IEC60034-
30: 2008 harmonised standard for motor
efficiency. (See story p13 for more details).
Under the rules, the EU will ban the sale of
motors below standard IE2 efficiency by 2011
and will allow only highly efficient IE3
motors between 7.5-375kW, if single
speed, from 2015 – expanding to a
0.75-375kW size range from 2017.
However, IE2 motors can continue to
be sold after 2015, if used with
variable speed drives.
Welcoming the move as “probably
the biggest thing to happen in the
motor industry for some years,” Steve
Ruddell, ABB general manager, drives
and motors (right), said the EU was at
last joining other global regions in “driving
towards a common global standard.”
Nevertheless, the regulation appears to be a
missed opportunity, according to Ruddell. For
instance, he said, ABB would have liked to see
the inclusion of motors above 375kW as well as
many types of explosion-proofed motors.
While accepting the exclusion of Exe
equipment, Ruddell said the regulators had
“missed a trick” in excluding all other types of
explosion-proof motors. These equate to about
10% of total motor population and, typically, run
in continuous mode in energy-intensive
industries such as chemicals and oil & gas.
Ruddell also cited concerns about whether
motor rewinds would be allowed back into
operation. As many as 11 million industrial
motors, with a total capacity of 90GW,
are installed in UK industry alone
and a significant proportion of those
that fail each day are rewound and
then re-installed.
With full details of the EU
regulation to be issued in June,
Ruddell asked: Will the regulators be
brave and scrap [rewinds]? We would
like to see that motors that do not
meet the appropriate efficiency class
should not be allowed to be rewound
and should be scrapped. This is the only way to
quickly address the installed base.”
Ruddell concluded by calling on the UK
government to begin a high profile education
campaign to inform industry about the need
to meet the new energy efficiency
requirements for motors ahead of the
introduction of the EU regulations.
Training groups target profit link
The National Skills Academy
Process Industries is working to
develop new metrics that will
show the links between training
and profitability, according to
Joanna Woolf, CEO of Cogent
Sector Skills Council. The plan,
she said, is part of a strategy to
establish a new, more positive
culture around training in the
process industries
In the past, companies’
assessments of the worth of
training was strongly guided by
a levy system, in which they
were charged a set training fee
by a national training board.
But, said Woolf: ”I don’t
believe that companies are
going to put their hands up
and demand a return to the
levy … In some respects this [a
levy] makes it easier, but in
other respects it doesn’t
embed the culture where
companies actually believe in
investing in skills and education
because it is the right thing to
do for their businesses.”
With its plans for companies
to achieve world class status
through initiatives such as the
Gold Standard qualifications,
Woolf said: “I think we will
stimulate that sort of thinking
among employers.”
Cogent and NSAPI aim to
establish and highlight the
correlations between training
and improved business
performance. “We would like
to do a bit more in terms of
meaningfully connecting
investment in training to the
bottom line,” said Woolf.
The training bodies are also
keen to publicise more cases
studies to show how they are
helping companies identify
skills gaps in their organisations
and are training people in areas
such as lean manufacturing and
business improvement.
“We have got to do more to
communicate those success
stories just to get that culture
going,” said the Cogent leader.
IN BRIEF
Ineos ChlorVinyls is to go ahead with
construction of its energy-from-waste CHP
plant at Weston Point, Runcorn, Cheshire.
The decision follows an announcement that
Viridor Laing (Greater Manchester) Ltd had
achieved financial close on a PFI waste and
recycling contract with Greater Manchester
Waste Disposal Authority to manage 1.3
million tonnes of municipal waste annually.
A Keep Britain Working survey of 2,500
people from various sectors found that 99%
of workers in manufacturing roles would
accept changes in their working conditions to
help colleagues keep their jobs. Also, 41% of
the manufacturing workers surveyed would
accept a cut in pay and more than three in
five (63%) would accept a reduction in hours.
Profinet has reported record 40% growth
in its number of installed nodes, with 1.6
million in operation by the end of 2008. The
figures, it claims, make Profinet the
"undisputed market leader in Ethernet-based
industrial communication". Installations are
forecast to rise to 3 million in 2010.
ABB has posted record revenues, EBIT
and cash from operations for the full year
2008. The performance, however, included a
substantial dip in Q4 earnings as orders
decreased 19%, notably for large power
infrastructure projects in emerging markets.
Orders to upgrade power grids continued to
grow in mature markets.
Top 10 most-read stories on
www.processengineering.co.uk website:
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workers
PE People Tracker
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Process Business News Tracker
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young women
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For regular updates on industry news visit:
www.processengineering.co.uk
PROCESS ENGINEERING : MAY/JUNE 2009
07
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