Rising energy prices, especially electricity, are a real threat to many companies and manufacturing enterprises. It is not excluded that if they do not take appropriate measures, they will not be able to produce next year or the prices of their products and services will be so high that they may be unmarketable. Fortunately, we at PPA CONTROLL know how to avoid this problem because we bring a real solution to save energy.
Although energy prices are already at 20-year highs, next year will most likely be even more expensive. The price of electricity on the spot market is continuously rising. Even manufacturing companies that managed to buy electricity at relatively good prices this year will lose this advantage in a few months.
Energy costs may be liquidating for many businesses in 2023. The only solution is to find a way to save energy and realistically reduce electricity bills.
"Although every responsible director, owner or manager of a manufacturing company is now inevitably dealing with the topic of energy and looking for savings, without sufficient information it is difficult, perhaps even unrealistic. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack, because the only information they have is the big number on the monthly electricity bill," says our energy auditor Michal Kolimár from the subsidiary PPA Power DS, sro
With PPA CONTROLL you are in control
However, PPA CONTROLL offers manufacturing companies a solution - a system of online measurements of production lines and supporting technologies, based on which you will get a truly transparent energy audit.
These are small costs in a short time that will save tens of thousands of euros in energy costs. "For a typical manufacturing plant, 10 to 20 measurements of key technologies are usually enough. For example, we connect individual lines, robots, heating, compressors, lighting, air conditioning or cooling to the system. Your company's management suddenly sees what their 20-euro monthly energy bill consists of," continues M. Kolimár.
The output is a separate graph for each appliance, including the price in euros. It is very understandable, which is important for analysis and further steps in setting up savings.
Expensive air compression
"For example, many companies do not produce at night or on weekends. Despite this, they still consume around 20 to 30% of their energy. By measuring online, we can reveal what this consumption is. We often find that devices are switched on that are either not needed at all, or their performance can be significantly reduced," continues the expert from PPA Power DS.
We have repeatedly witnessed the great astonishment of managers of manufacturing companies where we have taken measurements, when they suddenly saw in black and white how much it costs them every month to have their compressed air leaking.
"With our system, we can measure how much air and how many euros are wasted. Since a lot of electricity is used to compress air, eliminating this waste will actually save thousands of euros per year," explains an auditor from PPA Power DS.
Hidden leaks that you won't find on your own
During one of the online measurements, our colleagues from PPA Power DS also discovered, for example, that although the company was not working on weekends, electricity consumption was approaching the level of full operation.
Our measurements revealed that employees went to the workplace during their free time to make things for themselves – on company equipment and from company materials.
"Such revelations are, of course, not the goal of measurements, but from time to time, something is discovered that the company's management would not have expected," stated Michal Kolimár.
We help you save energy
Our online measurements are done in such a way that you can monitor all measured values online on the web interface. "This is important not only for information, but also for the practical side of things and finding the optimal path to real savings," continues M. Kolimár.
Our energy experts can test different device settings and then see in which mode the consumption is lowest. The management of the company that ordered the measurement service from us can set and evaluate goals after months or quarters and see if the consumption has decreased. Last but not least, when the company has information about the consumption of individual devices, it can also better plan the quantities and reserved capacity, thus avoiding fines and surcharges on invoices.
The language of numbers
The changes made will very quickly translate into savings of thousands to tens of thousands of euros per year.
"For example, if you reduce the consumption of a 500 kW machine by just 5%, that's 25 kW of power. These 25 kW will save you 18 MWh of electricity per month. At current prices, the savings are €3 per month, or €600 per year," explains M. Kolimár. Next year, this energy saving will be even greater.
A second example is lighting. Many industrial halls have lights on all day long, unnecessarily. However, when you realize that the power consumption of the lights is in the tens of kW, which are unnecessarily consumed for several hours every day, you realize that you can potentially save thousands of euros per month this way.
New technologies
In addition to the correct setting of existing technologies in a manufacturing company, PPA CONTROLL also offers the service of measuring energy consumption after the installation of new technologies and equipment.
"Only companies that have these financially not so demanding measurements made will find out whether the real savings are as declared by the supplier. If not, they can still demand a better technology setting or another solution from the supplier in the warranty. This approach is also used in EPC contracts, where achieving savings is anchored directly in the implementation contract for the given technology, and I recommend using it when introducing new technologies as a real tool for saving and protecting your investment," concludes our energy auditor.
With PPA CONTROLL, you have control over both technology and energy costs. The savings you will get from using our online consumption measurement services can decide whether or not your production facility will survive next year, or at least whether you will gain an advantage over your competitors by saving energy. And all this without limiting the production process.
