Energy management helps speed up the energy transition
At Technolution we believe that energy management is an indispensable step in the energy transition. In addition, it is a wise investment. Digitization and smart technology can help businesses to monitor, analyze, and optimize their energy use. Energy management facilitates cost savings and more efficient use of the power grid, and improves the sustainability of businesses. All these things are steps we can take together towards creating a future-proof energy system that joins reliability and flexibility.
Tailor-made energy management
The energy transition is all about sustainability and electrification. The share of sustainable energy, often generated in a decentralized manner, is increasing. As for users, they are electrifying, resulting in a steep rise in demand for electricity. The combination of these two developments is putting unprecedented pressure on the power grid. Applications for new connections are sometimes being turned down. Energy users who exceed their contracted transmission capacity are slapped with high fines.
We help our clients by providing tailor-made energy management. Energy management supports and speeds up the energy transition by preventing overruns of contracted capacity and reducing energy use, thus alleviating grid load. Important additional benefits are reduction of CO2 emissions and improved sustainability. Moreover, energy management prepares businesses for a future in which the energy supply will possibly be less reliable.
Financial and economic advantages of energy management
The introduction of an energy management system (EMS) has financial benefits too. Monitoring, analysis, and optimization help to save energy use (up to double-digit percentages). An EMS can reduce energy costs by optimizing use of peak and off-peak rates, or by making smart use of dynamic energy prices. Fines for overruns of the contracted capacity can be prevented. A well-configured EMS additionally ensures that new assets, such as electric vehicles and machinery, can be deployed properly from the start and that they contribute to both energy security and the business goals.
As enterprises with an EMS perform better on sustainability, they have economic advantages when doing business with government bodies and investors. The potential advantages are even greater for major power consumers. By making smart use of trade markets such as the imbalance trade and local congestion trade, they can actually make money using their EMS.
What does an EMS do?
An EMS is almost always a tailor-made system, attuned to the environment in which it operates. Most EMSs perform several of the following tasks within their environment:
Increasing sustainability
The EMS can help enterprises to become more sustainable and comply with applicable legal norms, for example by calculating CO2 emissions and generating recommendations on how to reduce these.
Monitor energy consumption
The EMS collects data on electricity (and sometimes gas and water) consumption, and is integrated with smart meters and sensors for this purpose.
Analyze and report
Peak consumption and inefficient or unnecessary consumption are identified. Reports and dashboards give the use information and insight into current and historical data.
Identify cost savings
The EMS realizes cost savings by identifying inefficient use and waste, by making effective use of contract rates (peak and off-peak rates), and by predicting future energy demand and costs.
Automate and optimize
Building management systems, devices and other asserts can be integrated with the EMS. On the basis of optimization analyses performed by the EMS, systems can be switched on or off as energy prices and use patterns require.
The power of cooperation: energy management in energy hubs
If multiple businesses located in a single industrial estate coordinate their energy management in an energy hub, this results in a joined-up energy system that makes optimal use of the available grid capacity. The energy hub will distribute the available capacity across the participating businesses as efficiently as possible. As the participating companies have varying power requirements at different times, the energy hub will be able to vary the distribution, ensuring that participants always have sufficient energy while at the same time ensuring that the collective contracted capacity is not exceeded.
The greater volume gives an energy hub greater possibilities to save energy and costs, so that participation brings advantages that businesses that operate separately do not have. On the other hand, an energy hub does require a willingness to cooperate, both with other participants and with the grid operator.
Flexibility in asset integration
Developing an effective EMS requires an integrated approach. An EMS is most effective if the energy consumption within a company can be controlled. This in turn requires flexibility of assets, such as storage batteries, charging stations, heat pumps and heat storage, but also electric vehicles and industrial machinery.
By monitoring and proactive control of assets, an EMS can prevent peak loads and safeguard business continuity. For example, an EMS can indicate that electric vehicles must be charged more quickly at times that more solar energy is available. Or that heavy machinery should operate at a slower pace at times that less power is available.
The integration of energy assets in an energy management system can be a challenge. Many manufacturers are not prepared yet for standardized solutions. Technolution’s long experience as system integrator means we can effectively help our clients integrate complex systems and make their assets accessible. This is why we develop scalable, open solutions that can work with as many systems as possible. We are working actively with other parties to standardize communication protocols, so that EMSs can in the future be realized faster and more cheaply across the market.
Indispensable for sustainable and cost-efficient business operations
Energy management offers individual companies many advantages. In addition, it supports and facilitates a healthy energy economy for society as whole. We expect that the use of EMSs will increase sharply and that using an EMS will soon become indispensable for sustainable and cost-efficient business operations.
Would you like to know more about energy management or the use of an EMS or energy hub? Contact us for more information.
