Utility Cost Management
Plant-wide Operational Goals, and Utility Power Management
Lowering your refrigeration energy costs is not always a straight-forward proposition. Sure, you want to achieve a desired refrigeration effect for the least cost — but that often involves more than just maximizing energy efficiency at the individual equipment item level. Everything from plant-wide energy conservation opportunities to company operational goals to utility power management objectives must be considered in designing a control system.
Plant-wide energy conservation opportunities, company operational goals and utility power management objectives must be considered in designing a control system.
“Safeway works closely with local utility providers supplying all of our facilities and has been able to take advantage of the generous incentives they offer to help defray the cost of acquiring the energy-reducing Logix systems.”
Alan Burrows, P.E. - Corporate Engineer
Safeway
Logix has the broad energy management experience and successful track record you can trust to minimize one of the few costs you can actually reduce — your energy bill.
Since its inception in 1990, Logix has pioneered award-winning, energy-saving control systems for refrigeration equipment. Today, Logix delivers even greater energy savings by delivering comprehensive plant-wide equipment control that coordinates operation of the entire refrigeration system for maximum efficiency.
• Coordinated Refrigeration System Control
• Load Shifting
• Load Shedding / Demand Limiting
• Real-time Pricing Response
• Interruptible Service Support (Automated Shutdown)
• Systematic Equipment Restart Procedure
• Lighting, HVAC, Battery Charger & other Load Management
• Intelligently coordinates operation of all refrigeration system components, greatly minimizing the power spikes associated with the random and volatile nature of independent equipment control
• Stabilizes evaporator, compressor and condenser loads, resulting in lower energy costs for the same or better refrigeration performance
• Reduces energy use during high-cost, peak-power billing periods by operating equipment at lower energy use settings (raising allowable temperatures and pressures) and limiting equipment operation as determined by plant personnel
• Automatically lowers temperatures prior to the peak cost periods to achieve a thermal “flywheel” effect that maintains refrigerated products within desired temperature ranges
• Manages equipment operation to limit power consumption to a pre-set kW level without negative impact to cooling objectives
• Automates shedding (shut-down) of eligible equipment according to a user-defined equipment priority list, flattens power spikes, improves power factor and contains energy usage
• Monitors current utility power costs via internet or other link
• Permits owners to choose various equipment operating scenarios, from all-on to all-off and anything in between, for a range of kWh price levels
• Turns off equipment in a safe, orderly and timely manner with minimal or no labor cost for plants that must go off utility power after short notice
• Minimizes labor and potential utility penalty expenses associated with shutdown response and avoids power demand spikes with equipment restart (see “Restart” item below)
Systematic Equipment Restart Procedure
• Provides for the smooth, gradual starting of plant equipment after a power failure or shutdown occurs
• Contains electrical demand charges that result from turning on numerous motors in a refrigeration system start up
• Manages the shedding, limiting, shifting, shutdown and restart of other facility electrical loads (in conjunction with refrigeration equipment) to maximize benefit of the plant-wide system energy management tools Logix provides