Costs for energy have become an important operational aspect for industrial use. Most manufacturing plants, commercial establishments or large production units can usually operate many electrical systems, multiple machines, HVAC controls, utilities etc. all at the same time.
With this setup, without visibility into actual energy costs of each component it is becoming very difficult to see where an individual part or machine is wasting energy or where it uses more electricity than it's supposed to be using.
An energy management platform is an indispensable part to manage these parameters. Unlike utilizing simple monthly electricity bills or by manual readings from meters, they use live data to enable organizations utilize these operational insights to maximize savings in energy.
What Is an Energy Management Platform?
Energy Management Platform is software used to gather various types of information such as from meters, machines, electrical hardware or any sensor and compile this information on one platform using their respective dashboards and data analytics functionalities.
In many systems today you may also be required to specify what types of metrics/ readings you would want to see, some of these modern-day features are:
* Electrical consumption
* AC and DC Voltage & Current readings
* Power Factor readings
* Frequency readings
* Demand readings
* machine power consumption
* high/ peak demand issues
* electricity costs in trends etc
For any industrial user the benefits are many including identifying equipment ineffectively running, identifying machines with odd energy patterns, ways to prevent and reduce energy losses and many more.
What is real-time energy monitoring importance?
Many energy monitoring is still done using periodic or monthly meter readings but this gives the overall consumption data which does not help analyze how, when, why electricity was consumed or where the unnecessary load could possibly be.
Real-time monitoring shows the consumption of all your equipment's electrical parameters live. For instance, if one specific machine begins to use more power than it normally is supposed to according to its usage patterns, an alarm or indication shall be presented through the system and a manager can immediately look into why the increase is occurring and how to reduce the consumption so that unnecessary power cost does not add up, plus one might avoid having equipment issues later on.
Through such monitoring the user can compare:
* Across all departments
* Across different production lines
* Between individual machines
* Or between the different buildings/ sites.
How does an energy management platform works?
Working with any energy management platform for industries there are commonly the following connected modules:
1. Data collection
Smart meters, sensors and any meters monitoring power are attached to respective feeder lines, sub stations or any individual machines that use significant amount of electricity within the plant.
2. Data processing
Industrial data acquisition unit or an IoT gateway can connect these meters and can transfer relevant readings after certain level of filtering and analysis is already done at the machine or is carried out while transferring data.
3. Energy Analytics
Energy Management platform uses all available gathered information to understand various parameters. Some of the key analyses is comparing real-time and historical power consumption's and intensity, determining efficiency of machines or highlighting a part which draws unusual current as compared to its typical usage.
4. Dashboard Visualization
All gathered and analyzed energy data, metrics and insights shall be available to users in one central dashboard. Various users can access personalized Dashboards based on the requirements such as the factory manager may want high level views whereas operations or maintenance team may need specific machine data's.
5. Alerts & Optimization
When energy parameters cross a specific threshold a real-time alert is issued. Such intelligent system can offer suggestions or support automated control actions for power savings.
Important benefits for industrial facilities
Better Visibility into energy flow
Facilities gain the awareness of exactly which departments or part in a plant utilizes more energy.
Saving Energy
By spotting unexpected or extreme usage of energy this information may also alert you to problems that cause energy waste.
Machine level analysis
You can analyze actual electrical parameters of each machine and detect when it deviates from expected settings.
Peak Demand Management
Many utility companies charge more during peak usage, the demand alerts you to potentially peak loads occurring and where one might try to lower this factor of electrical cost.
Data driven decisions
Facilities and maintenance managers can then make decisions regarding what type of machinery needs replacing or what procedures can be implemented by referencing the live usage of each component or system.
Energy analytics with prediction
These platforms now don't just show the raw data but the collected measurements are analyzed. Machine learning enables even prediction.
For example if a machine shows increased energy intensity and there is no change in production quantity then the facility manager can evaluate the possible factors causing this reduction in machine's energy efficiency.
Integration with existing industrial infrastructure
An energy management platform has to work seamlessly with already existing systems of your industrial organization.
A modern management system supports different industrial protocols and applications; this way data can be exchanged between the energy system and others such as SCADA, building management, ERP etc making the platform "part of the whole plant control structure."
How do you choose the right solution
Consider:
Quantity of electrical components in the facility
Square footage of the plant/facility and also of all different operation site
How accurately you need the information to be displayed
How well the communications is set up among the parts of the system.
Requirement of live energy readings or just periodic updates?
What dashboard outputs you require and level of customization needed.
Does it connect to other system modules?
Are there alarms and control actions you expect?
What is the plan for the information's future security?
Can the whole system grow and adapt as your facility grows and its requirement change?
An effective system should rather be part of a solution than a fragmented reporting device.
The Future of Energy Management in industry
The energy management section is moving away from simple data capture of kilowatt-hours to dynamic optimization based on real-time analysis.
Internet of Things connections, edge processing, cloud storage with analytical support, machine learning and sophisticated control systems are all enabling management to optimize at every step and at any time, all combined into one seamless system.
For an instance there is a well-developed Energy Management System by companies, (which offers an IoT based tool to view real-time energy readings, analysis, alerts and optimization actions).
Conclusion
An energy management platform can provide your organization with the means to not just monitor energy use but actively improve the overall operational performance of the plant and control usage rather than solely watching it.
The ability to record, analyze and interpret electricity readings offers insightful data that makes smarter decisions regarding consumption levels, potential efficiency gains or issues in equipment.
Organizations looking to enhance operations, reduce waste, and move to a modern data oriented culture through electricity consumption monitoring ought to consider integrating a well connected system that manages energy.
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