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Request a demo4 Ways to save on electricity bills as a manufacturer
Have you been focusing on reducing your consumption to save on energy costs? In addition to reducing consumption, there are more ways to save on energy costs. We have listed four ideas for you to reduce your electricity bill.
Table of contents
1. Reduce your reactive power consumption to lower your cos-phi compensation
Reactive consumption indicates how much power is lost by the transportation of energy. The ratio between the real power that you can use and apparent power, is called cosine phi or cos-phi. This reactive power needs to be transported by cables, pipes and transformers, causing wear on them. As a result energy suppliers can apply a cos-phi fine causing extremely high energy bills.
To reduce your reactive consumption, you can install a cos-phi capacitor bank. Based on the information on the electricity bill, you can calculate the type and number of capacitor banks required. Not sure which one you need? Sensorfact can help you with this and also recommend a trusted supplier.
2. Apply peak shaving
On your electricity bill you can find the item contracted capacity. This stands for the maximum capacity you can use before paying an additional fee. If you consume more, your contracted capacity will be automatically increased resulting in a higher energy bill the following years. You can avoid this by spreading your consumption so that peaks won’t surpass your contracted capacity. This is called ‘peak shaving’. Peak-shaving can help factories save thousands of euros yearly by avoiding unnecessary energy peaks.
Example
This graph shows multiple machines that are being turned on simultaneously, causing a peak in the energy consumption. To avoid this, see if machines with flexible production times can be switched on at a time of lower consumption.
3. Switch to off-peak times
Do you have machines running during peak hours that can also run during off-peak hours, such as freezers that only run to freeze products after production? Switching on these machines during off-peak hours can make a significant difference to the energy bill.
4. Switch energy suppliers
A simple way to save on energy costs is switching to another energy supplier. Because the duration of energy contracts can vary from 1 to 5 years, the end date of the contract is often not monitored, resulting in automatic renewal. Set a reminder when your contract duration is ending, so that you can compare prices in time and switch suppliers when necessary.
How to get detailed insights into your consumption?
Many ways to save on energy consumption lead back to data. When you’re still manually keeping track of your consumption it will be difficult to have detailed data about a machine’s consumption at specific times. Most plants are using an Energy Management System to map their energy flow and get detailed, real-time information about consumption. This enables them to easily compare machines and optimise their energy efficiency.
We developed a plug-and-play solution for manufacturers, using wireless sensors that measure the energy consumption on a real-time basis. Interested in how this could work for your plant? Schedule a free demo with one of our experts.