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Industrial consultancy services
News Release from: Rockwell Automation | Subject: RSEnergy and RSPower energy management software
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 03 May 2001
Energy management solutions cut fuel
bills
With the impending introduction of the Climate Change Levy, energy efficiency has risen up the management agenda for UK manufacturers.
With the impending introduction of the Climate Change Levy, energy efficiency has risen up the management agenda for UK manufacturers In readiness, Rockwell Automation has developed a comprehensive suite of products, software and engineering services to manage and reduce energy consumption
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 21 Apr 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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These range from equipment such as the PowerMonitor range and Line Synchronisation Modules, through Rockwell Software such as RSEnergy and RSPower energy management suites, to turnkey engineering services for complete production facilities.
Delivering this range of services is the Power and Energy Management Solutions (PEMS) group, based at its centre in Bletchley.
Rockwell Automation, long recognised as a world leader in industrial automation, has now added significant new dimensions to its portfolio of services.
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These enable it to offer the comprehensive solutions that manufacturers require to improve financial as well as manufacturing performance.
Since the deregulation of the utilities, energy has represented a relatively small element in most manufacturers' cost base.
But in April 2001, the UK government will introduce the Climate Change Levy, a new tax on energy consumption as part of its strategy to cut carbon dioxide emissions and curb global warming.
The Levy is forecast to add GBP1 billion next year to UK industry's energy costs and, whilst this money will be recycled in the form of lower National Insurance contributions, individual firms can minimise the impact of the Levy by maximising their energy efficiency.
The opportunities for cost saving fall into three main categories: Monitoring and cost allocation; power system monitoring and control; demand management and load shedding.
Monitoring and cost allocation can reduce energy consumption by 3 - 10% through raising awareness of where energy is being used and so encouraging a reduction in energy wastage.
Power system monitoring and control identifies and corrects power quality problems such as harmonics and transient voltages that can damage sensitive equipment and increase energy bills through poor power factors.
Demand management can save 5 - 25% of energy bills by automatically capping peak energy demands at the level agreed with the electricity supplier and so avoiding financial penalties.
This can involve emergency shedding of non-essential loads to ensure that critical plant and equipment are continuously supplied, without exceeding the agreed maximum power demand.
The first stage of a PEMS implementation is a site energy audit and feasibility study to identify potential energy savings and ways of controlling and reducing consumption by manufacturing plant.
If the audit indicates that substantial energy savings could result from replacement of outdated equipment with modern, state-of-the-art manufacturing systems, Rockwell Automation is able to provide a variety of asset management solutions to ease this migration process.
These range from lease-purchase to a complete asset management package including design and installation of new systems, maintenance support and spares provision.
Such an approach would yield improvements in production as well as energy efficiency.
In addition, Rockwell Automation can identify skills gaps and provide staff training through its Training Services division.
"It is not about a software monitoring product here or a piece of hardware there," says Steve Darnell, Commercial Marketing Manager at Rockwell Automation.
"We understand the manufacturing and process industries, and we have proven solutions and services.
Customers get an integrated, scaleable offer that encompasses installation, asset management and staff training." The full range of Rockwell Automation PEMS services was on display at the recent NEMEX energy efficiency exhibition held at Birmingham's NEC.
This was the last NEMEX before the introduction of the Climate Change Levy, and many manufacturers took the opportunity to see how PEMS could help them save energy.
"Rockwell Automation is now fully capable of delivering the full range of PEMS systems and services," said PEMS Systems Development Manager Zaid Rashid.
"This was the first time we have exhibited at NEMEX and there was a lot of interest in what we have to offer." He continued: "We already have several examples of how PEMS has enabled companies to substantially reduce their energy consumption, and Rockwell Automation has itself implemented a PEMS scheme in its own factories." The introduction of a load profiling and cost allocation system at one 50,000sq m Rockwell Automation facility will yield savings of ?250,000 over three years.
With an initial investment of ?95,000 the payback period is less than 14 months.
Energy intensive users can see even shorter payback periods, and a US steel mill that installed a new energy demand management system realised such large cost savings that the payback period was less than three months.
Rockwell Automation's experience and understanding of manufacturing, and its broad range of hardware, software and engineering skills, enable it to offer more far-reaching benefits than cutting energy bills or reducing a tax liability under the Levy.
"Rockwell Automation has specific products, such as variable speed drives, that reduce energy consumption, and demand for these is rising fast," says Steve Darnell.
"These products can be installed as a standalone project or form part of a PEMS system. Request a free brochure from Rockwell Automation ...
However, even bigger savings can be made when our consultants work with the customer to re-engineer their processes and it is these solutions that yield the biggest return on investment.".
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