Energy Efficiency Incentives: What Are "Prescriptive" Incentives?
Does Your Kentucky Or Tennessee Business Qualify For TVA Energy Efficiency Incentives?
Understanding Incentive Categories
In a previous article I discussed what categorizes a lighting project as "custom" for TVA and also gave an example project to show the great rebate incentives they are offering their customers. In this article I would like to highlight the "prescriptive" lighting program they offer.
What Is A "Prescriptive" Energy Efficient Incentive?
Prescriptive lighting projects are nothing more than changing your existing lighting out with a "prescribed" category of fixture from TVA's incentive chart.
While the brand of fixture used can be from any lighting manufacturer, they do have to meet criteria guidelines to qualify for the incentives.
As an example, one of their line items involves replacing an existing 250W metal halide. If you replace it with a 3 lamp T5 F-bay, TVA will pay you $36.00 for every fixture you change. No calculations, no speculating,......as long as the fixture specs meet the criteria.
To be sure if the fixture your wanting to install meets these criteria we recommend using a certified TVA lighting vendor such as Coffman Lighting. To see more details on the TVA prescriptive program click here.
How Does A "Prescriptive" Rebate Work?:
Next let's take a sample project and figure the incentive for a qualifying TVA customer. We have a large manufacturing building that is part storage and part manufacturing. The building has 120, 400w metal halide highbays that are on roughly 12 hours per day.
Just these lights cost the owner $10,006.00 per year to operate!
Existing Fixtures:
120 - 400WMH @ 456watts ea.
Based on the owner usage information I have = 181,928 KWH per year.
Annual cost $10,006.00 per year.
New Fixtures:
60 - 6 lamp T5 F-bays @ 343 watts ea.
60 - 4 lamp T5 F-bays @ 226 watts ea.
(Quick Note: Only the manufacturing area needed higher light levels requiring the 6 lamp fixture. The storage and shipping area just needed to maintain it's light levels, which is why we used the 4 lamp fixture in their.)
Total yearly KWH with the new fixtures = 93,084 KWH
Annual cost $5,120.00 per year.
So we saved him $4,886.00 dollars a year right off the top.
PLUS
TVA's prescriptive application graciously gives us:
$36.00 for every 6 lamp fixture we install and $72.00 dollars for every 4 lamp fixture we install.
60 X $36.00 = $2,160.00
60 X $72.00 = $4,320.00
Total Incentive = $6,480.00!
So we get $4,886 in savings and $6,480 in rebates.
Grand Total = $11,366.00 (all while maintaining and increasing light levels in the building)
How Do You Start The Process?
This is just a quick rundown on a sample project. Many times the calculations are more extensive with many more fixture types. Every project is different, so it is important to have a qualified electrical company evaluate your needs. That's where we can help!
Click the button below to learn more about how incentives can impact your energy efficiency project in Kentucky or Tennessee.
FREE lighting analysis done to show you how much you can save just by changing your lighting. The TVA incentives have never been better and are there for the taking!