Finance

Financial Significance of Harmonic Filters

If economic value is about the investment, and in the case of retrofits purely about adding value to the property, the financial signifcance is making such retrofits easier to pay for.

In Retrofitting, typically payback periods are long, with 15-20 years being “normal” in terms of replacement windows, and 7-15 year paybacks “normal” for major on-site generation, and multi-year paybacks even for lighting retrofits.
The harmonic filters typically provide sub-1-year paybacks in areas with high rates, but under 2-year paybacks almost anywhere, certainly in commercial facilities where the throughput (kWh) per distribution panel is high.
Putting two and two together, by including the filters in the project, the overall payback is increased, making the project easier to finance.
Note: For the vendor of equipment, be it LEDs, heat pumps, HVAC, or any other equipment, the presence of harmonic filters lowers maintenance costs if their equipment draws power from circuits protected by the harmonic filters. Notably inverters in solar systems add harmonics into power circuits, worsening overall power quality, since harmoncis are cumulative in a given circuit.