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COTTON FARMING IS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE GINNING INDUSTRY.
Try To Minimize Gin’s Electricity Costs Predictions of increasing electricity costs seem to be constantly appearing from multiple angles. There are a number of environmental regulations that will potentially limit the number of new power plants and may cause some existing plants to shut down. In many parts of the country, there are also capacity issues, such as aging power lines, and lines that are simply not being upgraded quickly enough to meet the load growth in a given area. Reliability issues are a reality, as is the challenge of meeting ever-increasing demands for energy. These larger issues are typically addressed by your trade associations and business groups. What can an individual cotton gin manager do to help offset and/or control electricity costs? One of the biggest items an individual can do is review and understand the actual power usage at your gin. In Texas, we conduct an annual cost survey. One of the most important questions in the survey, in my opinion, relates to how many kilowatt-hours the plant used during the year. Most ginners tell me they prefer to look at how much their electricity costs per bale, and this is an important number. The problem is this number is a reflection of how much energy you used, combined with how much your electricity costs. The cost of electricity is generally a function of your power company, while how much power you use is a function of how your gin is operating. In my opinion, you should look at each of these items separately. Over the last 10 years, the energy use in Texas has varied from a statewide average of 40.92 kWh/bale to 47.9 kWh/bale. In the last four years, our highest statewide average energy use has been 44.81 kWh/bale. This is an important number to compare, as it reflects the actual amount of energy your plant used to gin your crop. While the statewide averages are pretty consistent from year to year, the range each year can easily go as low as 30 kWh/bale and as high as 70 kWh/bale. If you don’t know your gin’s usage number, take a few minutes and do the math. If your gin is averaging 45 kWh/bale or less, you are probably in pretty good shape. On the other hand, if you are using 50 to 70 kWh/bale to gin your crop (or more), you may want to conduct a review of your operation.
30 COTTON FARMING
MARCH 2015
Stover Unwrapper GIS
Stover Module Retriever Bed
* Meets all John Deere requirements * 100% electric (no hydraulics) * One person to remove wrap * Process at 80+ bales per hour * Gantry is stationary * Adaptable to most module feeders * Computerized touch screen controls
* Rubber Tracks * RMS Chain on entire bed * Specially designed hydraulic tracks * Stover sliding tracks * Splitter valve * Automatic rear bumper * Optional camera and monitor
800-689-7740 361-884-8961 www.stoverequipment.com