Case Studies
EPALME CASE
Customer
EPALME is an aluminum recycler. The factory is currently producing aluminum billets with state-of-the-art casting technology using pure aluminum ingots and recyclable aluminum scrap. Its annual production capacity exceeds 30.000 tons.
Challenge
For EPALME, electrical energy is one of the major expense factors in the production line. Their management team was looking for a total energy management solution and for energy efficiency services to implement a sustainable development strategy and to maximize profits. Case Study Saved €160.000
Solution
Ιntegrating the DTWISE platform enabled the facility’s energy profile monitoring through analyzing any electrical metric, fundamental for this case. The energy engineers delve into the continuous data feed. Using a wide palette of tools, such as custom searches, pattern matching, thresholds setting, and alerting, managed to pinpoint several installation deficiencies and functional limitations. Through the load profile construction, the shredding equipment and the smelting furnaces were identified as the main consumers. The motor drive which controls the air inflow in the melting furnace was accountable for 15% of the daily general load. DTWISE proposed a variable speed drive control (inverter) for the motor in order to achieve the reduction of active and reactive energy.1 With an annual energy consumption of more than 4.0 GWh and a 24/7 peak demand of 900 kVA the proposed intervention had a high impact on energy consumption reduction. The impact was a 40% reduction for the specific load2 and 6% on the overall factory consumption. Moreover, most of the production line equipment’s booting was not fully controlled, leading to a random load pattern with several peaks. DTWISE engineers used the data analysis to propose a substantial power arbitrage system to smoothen and optimize the load demand curve. This further reduced energy consumption by 12% and the general load by 8%
Results
In 2 years DTWISE helped the factory to reduce the general load by 10.5% and to reach a substantial total energy consumption reduction of 18%.3 The ROI for the energy monitoring services was 9 months, which resulted in 80.000€ annual savings.
HERTZ CASE
Customer
Audio-Technica is a Hertz fleet service company. The company provides vertical services in five (5) privately held premises located in Athens, Thessaloniki & Crete. Challenge One of AutoTechnica’s facilities was under-performing in many different counts. More importantly, though, unexpected general switch offs1 occurred at peak-working hours, consequently causing all sorts of operational problems. The utility power feed line capacity appeared to be rather marginal for the actual peak load demand. The electrical base and peak load were closer than they should be which was inviting trouble. The facility grew in size multiple times in the past 5 years without a proper plan to properly accommodate previous and future expansions.
Solution
Integrating the DTWISE platform enabled the facility’s energy profile monitoring through analyzing any electrical metric, fundamental for this case. The energy engineers delve into the continuous data feed. Using a wide palette of tools, such as custom searches, pattern matching, thresholds setting, and alerting, managed to pinpoint several installation deficiencies and functional limitations. A root-cause analysis showed that the lighting equipment was under-performing and the service station equipment operation was uncontrolled (i.e. parallel operation could occur).
More specifically, the engineers found that:
a. The installed fluorescent type of lighting caused poor power factor performance.
b. The light switching behavior of the facility users revealed increased discomfort.
c. The service station equipment’s start & stop kept the energy pattern close to power line capacity.
DTWISE engineers used the data analysis to propose to the facility manager two value-for-money interventions:
a. Service station equipment control (i.e. regulated parallel operation) through substantial power arbitrage to smoothen and optimize the load demand curve and
b. LED lighting retrofit to significantly lower the baseload level due to their high efficiency.
Results
The peak load and energy consumption analysis before and after the double intervention resulted in a total of 28% energy consumption reduction and a 33% baseload decrease. DTWISE M&V capabilities were paramount in selecting the right equipment for the task in order to maximize efficiency. The ROI for the energy monitoring services was instant once the action was taken to fix the power issues, resulting in a parallel to €17.000 annual savings.