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Introduction Electrical
energy is a resource that only gets only more expensive & scarce with
time. The energy
demand-supply gap in India is more than 400 billion units and increasing. Bridging the gap through increase in supply is very expensive
– India and China alone needed to invest US $ 356 bn. in power plants in
this decade. Besides, setting
up power plants also has environmental implications. A
cheaper and more practical route to bridging the gap is obviously
optimization or better usage of available power. |
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Energy Conservation: A Way of lifeOver
10 years, there has been a sea change in attitudes of top management in
industries to Energy Management. In
many large and progressive companies it has become a way of life. Awareness
of the need to conserve, and to inculcate efficiency in usage across
levels is on the rise. However,
much more needs to be done. A
sustained top-driven energy management program that has internal
`ownership’ with specific energy reduction targets and a plan to reduce
cost year after a year, is still largely missing. |
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The Path to Energy ConservationAn
industry may choose to either modernize its plant with energy efficient
alternatives or, fine-tune existing processes to optimize energy
consumption. The
modernization route requires heavy investment, and has long pay - back
periods (2 to 3 years) while the latter may need minimal or no additional
capital investment and has short payback periods. Increasing
interest in energy conservation has opened up a large market for suppliers
of instrumentation and software for energy management.
At a rough estimate, the market size for such products is R.500
crores and growing. Theoretically,
if all Indian industries put together invested Rs.500 crores in Energy
Management Instrumentation they could realize a potential savings of
Rs.5000 crores. Their pay back period would be 1.2 months with recurring
savings every year! |
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A
big market opportunity attracts all sorts of suppliers – established
manufacturers in the organized and unorganized sectors, traders and of
course, opportunists looking for short term gain. With liberalization and freer imports, competition both domestic and imported, has increased.This brings with it certain responsibilities and duties for both buyers and sellers. |
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To realize complete benefits of energy optimization, both off-line and on-line energy data must be co-related in real time. It is this that contributes to reduction in energy cost and conservation of energy. |
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A Large FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industry invested on the Energy Management Networks, in their Toilet Soap manufacturing plant. Monitoring their specific Energy Consumption at different sections and comparing with their own International Holding Companies. These detected higher consumption in their soap Noodler mills. The reason for high consumption was studied with the specific energy trends during various machine-loading periods. The true reasons for the higher consumption was identified, which enabled them to justify additional investment of variable frequency drives for those mills. A differential Energy
Consumption study was conducted and tabulated as below:
1 mill @ 8700 operating
hours
=2.08 Lakh units Energy Savings in 8
mills of plant
=16.64 Lakh units Cost per unit
= Rs.4.20 Total Energy Cost
Savings
= Rs.69 Lakhs / year Total
Investment:
a) Monitoring Network
= Rs.45 Lakhs
b) Variable Speed drives for 8
machines
at Rs.3 Lakhs / unit
= Rs.24 Lakhs
____________ Total
Investment
= Rs.29 Lakhs
Payback Period
= 29 / 69 years
= 5 months |
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It is concluded that the Enercon’s Energy Management Networks is highly beneficial in identifying plant Energy Conservation opportunities, Efficient Tool for quantifying Energy Savings and Identifying Energy Inefficiencies. |