Horsepower to kW Converter

On most UK manufacturing and distribution sites, three or four motors do the bulk of the work. A 200 hp air compressor, a couple of 75 hp chillers, a process pump or two, and the baseload chart starts to make sense. Old nameplates quote horsepower, new procurement specs quote kW, and the conversion has to be right both ways because the difference between 200 hp (149 kW) and 200 kW shows up as a £30,000 swing in annual running cost at typical UK commercial power prices.

Motor efficiency standards have moved on too. The shift from IE2 to IE3 to IE4 across legally required ratings means that a like-for-like replacement of an older motor can quietly trim 4 to 7 percent off the running kWh, and on a 24-hour-duty compressor that is real money. A site doing a capacity audit needs accurate kW figures to scope the spend, the payback, and any energy-efficiency credit available under SECR, ESOS Phase 4, or sector-specific carbon agreements.

Purely Energy works with industrial clients on motor-heavy sites where the load profile is dominated by a few large drives, and the conversations are usually about variable-speed drive retrofits, soft starter projects, and the contract structure that captures the saving. Getting the hp-to-kW conversion right is the first step in a load-profile audit that ends with a procurement strategy aligned to how the site actually runs. The motor list, the running hours, and the diversity profile all feed into the half-hourly demand shape, and that shape is what the supplier prices against.