While there are many definitions for energy management, they mostly focus on two aspects; maximising profits or minimising costs through lower energy consumption. However, it is rare to see actual practical examples of how one actually goes about achieving these desirable goals and that is because the solution is a great deal more complex than switching off something when it is not in use.
There are no best practice guides for specific industries and, insofar as electricity is concerned, usually only the incoming supply is measured and monitoring systems tend only to provide historical analysis tools that do not offer control functionality. But electricity is not the only cost – what about, air, steam, water and gas? And, most important, where does one start?
It starts right here
Before diving in and installing technology, it is important to understand that energy management involves a culture change in the company and a different way of looking at the broader picture. Conco was fortunate in accepting and understanding the following long before the project started:
* Mastering the fundamentals – it is vital to instil an energy efficiency culture through executive leadership and goal reviews and then to: track energy performance for all operations; extend energy accountability to the line/shift/product level rather than in the catch-all ‘overheads’ basket; monitor the performance of assets and technology choices; measure the effectiveness of the facility’s location; balance more assured returns of energy project investments against lower initial returns in the long term.
* Taking a longer and broader view about strategic decisions – energy can be seen as a lever for positive growth and change within the business, not simply a cost. It is possible to make the most of the strategic value of energy by thinking in terms of ‘embedded energy’ and ‘energy productivity’.
* Creating awareness about the way energy is managed, procured and used – it is important to be innovative and aggressive in pursuing and publicising new product and service offerings based on new energy technologies and suppliers.
* Creating contingent strategies for emergent future scenarios – this involves rehearsing specific aspects of the future, including substantial and sustained swings in energy price and supply, severe weather events and penalties or incentives around energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. It also means managing exposure to risks and readying plans to take full advantage of what the future brings and which ‘road ahead’ is emerging.
* Taking personal action – corporate leaders can take a number of ‘to-do’ actions today for tomorrow. All can be taken individually, in companies, on corporate boards and across industry.
* Evolving from ISO14001 to ISO50001 – whereas ISO 14001:2004 specifies requirements for an environmental management system, ISO 50001:2011 specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving an energy management system, whose purpose is to enable an organisation to follow a systematic approach in achieving continual improvement of energy performance, including energy efficiency, energy use and consumption.
Corporate objectives
Conco set itself the objective of reducing its energy consumption by 20% in one year. To do this, it formulated a series of strategic initiatives that would enlist the commitment of corporate management and create employee awareness while helping meet departmental targets and investing in tools that assist with energy management. One of the most important initiatives was to form a focus group to drive down energy costs. “We shifted out priority to reducing energy cost rather than usage,” says Wiseman Magagula, automation engineer at Conco. “After all, if a process requires 500 kWh there is not a lot that can be done about it apart from shaving off say 5% energy usage, but if the process is shifted to non-peak hours, costs can be reduced significantly. This just goes to show that energy cost need not be dependent on energy usage.”
In parallel, a series of tactical initiatives were formulated to optimise energy usage on the shop floor. These would include charging forklifts and running cold rooms only during off-peak periods, running the dust extractors only during working hours and basing lights and air-conditioning on someone’s presence. These would enable increased visibility into the factory and other processes and enable limited, non-intrusive control functions for certain processes.
Implementation
Coca-Cola Swaziland selected system integrator Systems Anywhere Coastal for the implementation of the energy management project who, in turn, selected a range of software solutions from the Invensys Wonderware stable. These solutions included the System Platform based on ArchestrA technology, Historian and Client, InTouch Scada/HMI, Information Server, SmartGlance for mobile reporting and Wonderware’s Corporate Energy Management (CEM) package.
“We were pioneering the CEM implementation with version 1.2 of the software using the water, steam, air and power modules,” says Paul Kotze, senior software engineer at Systems Anywhere Coastal. “The Wonderware CEM fits into the System Platform environment and is an off the shelf product that has multiple metering options. It enables real-time visibility of usage and cost and makes data available to any delivery vehicle.”
When the first results were made available they came as a shock – notably, this was the first time that measurements included data from sources other than the mains supply. “The company had its own ideas about usage and cost and did not accept these initial figures,” says Kotze. “But after the Swaziland Electricity Company validated the results and achieved a discrepancy of less than 1%, the business completely bought into the system.”
The InTouch system keeps operators informed on the exact real-time status of the plant and its various departments while management is kept informed on their smart phones via the SmartGlance mobile reporting facility. This real-time information availability allows for the study of cause-and-effect scenarios which were previously invisible to everyone.
Benefits
* Visibility into energy usage and cost per plant and subsection.
* Implementation of smarter energy usage/cost control protocols.
* Tighter grip on corporate departmental budgets and targets.
* Ability to control high energy operations to take place during low-cost periods.
* Business/people awareness of their immediate impact on energy cost.
Conclusion
Passive monitoring of energy usage is never going to achieve the desired results – energy needs to be controlled and the only way to do that is to incorporate it into the manufacturing process. After all, energy can be regarded as a raw material, just like any other, which is transformed by the process into added-value goods. To that degree, it can accurately be allocated to the manufacturing costs of individual items if necessary and that level of knowledge empowers people to make the right decisions and take control rather than being the victims of soaring costs.
For more information contact Jaco Markwat, Invensys Operations Management, +27 (0)11 607 8100, tech@invensys.co.za, www.iom.invensys.co.za
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