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Onsite Energy Projects

Can you improve your CHP investment?
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By Onsite Energy Projects

Have you invested in CHP in the last 3-4 years, or are you considering it ? If you haven’t yet, we may be able to provide a zero capex solution delivering significant savings.

If you have already invested, we may be able to help improve returns and reduce your business costs even more by helping you use all the power generated more efficiently.  Likewise if the performance or availability of the CHP has disappointed, we can assist with practical advice and review or renegotiate contract terms.

CCL costs on gas are set to rise by 90% by 2025.  So unless you qualify for an exemption (such as a  climate change agreement), you are going to see your returns eroded.  To those who are “power only” out there, it’s time to think out of the box and ensure you use the heat productively. We can help.

We specialise in making use of the waste heat from CHP or other busines processes.  Technologies to use heat productively now mean that in the right conditions we can use waste heat to produce as low as -40oC (to replace blast freezing, cold stores) or as high as 300oC (furnaces, cooking and frying), and pretty much everything in between, allowing us to reduce energy costs even further.

We can provide a free review of CHP performance, operating costs and options for improvement.

In the right circumstances, we could even purchase your existing CHP and provide discounted power back to you – so you still keep some of the savings and resilience benefits but also release cash for your core business in these challenging times.

This is the reason Onsite Energy Projects exists – we help businesses innovative, and implement the full potential of both energy efficiency and on-site generation measures.  We recognised the challenge of capex availability and can provide a no-capex, off-balance sheet solution.

If you would like to know more email us at info@on-site.energy or call on 0161 444 9989.

Onsite Energy Projects provides energy savings and energy generation solutions to energy intensive businesses, without capex if required.

Don’t let COVID-19 wreck your climate change plans
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By Onsite Energy Projects

We all need to refocus on the big issue of climate change, but we are facing a significant recession in the next few years. I predict that capex budgets are going to evaporate, and as a result investment plans are going to be put on hold. The consequence could be to derail our climate change and sustainability plans for some years to come.

At the same time, saving money has never been more important – to be competitive and grow jobs.  So how can you keep up the pace of sustainability gains, energy savings and make your business more competitive ?

Never has there been a better time to look at our zero capex, off-balance sheet solution.  We can help with energy savings ideas, sustainability innovation and develop the business cases for energy efficiency measures.  We can deliver them as an energy supply agreement without any cost to you.  All you need to do is pay for the power we provide (at a discount to what you are paying for grid power).

There is no cost to you for our analysis and recommendations.  We have experience in delivering solutions for complex manufacturing environments. We can particularly add value where you have a lot of use of heat, steam, chill or air conditioning.

In short we can accelerate your plans, not have them beaten back by lack of capital caused by COVID-19.

If you would like to know more email us at info@on-site.energy or call on 0161 444 9989.

Onsite Energy Projects provides energy savings and energy generation solutions to energy intensive businesses, without capex if required.

Saving money on energy using Artificial Intelligence
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Many use BMS (building management systems) to control your buildings. BMS is seen a “smart” in that it automates tasks that would need a human to do (such as changing set points, dead bands etc). Artificial Intelligence is best known for self-driving cars and playing chess against grand masters!! So does it have any role to play in managing our building better and saving money?

At OEP, we are already using artificial intelligence in two very real building and energy management applications and seeing £££ financial benefits:

(A) Energy Management. We can take in half-hourly meter data daily (no hardware needs to be installed), and identify patterns that could indicate a developing fault or anomaly, so it can be investigated before it becomes a cost, adjusting for weather and other inputs. The system self-learns and gets better over time at spotting new real issues. We oversee the results with our experienced energy management team, and interact with the customer.

An example benefit we picked up within 24 hours, was a (human) BMS programming error that would have cost £60,000 had it gone undetected, and probably would never have been picked up in the consumption on invoices.

In practice this also helps identify and monitor “behaviour” issues across an estate.  For example, we could highlight the differences in working practices between one supermarket and another in how they work with their refrigeration systems.

This is an ideal tool for multi-site operations (retail, restaurants, banks etc) with a rapid payback.  It allows over-loaded energy managers to have a proactive management tool, particularly across an estate of meters.  We can provide a THREE MONTH FREE TRIAL for businesses to find out if it works for them.

(B) We are also deploying AI to directly to manage the BMS, and even manufacturing processes. The software “learns” how the building or process reacts over time to different load events and climate conditions (creating a “digital twin”) and can develop its own strategies for how to optimise the building to (1) deliver the climate goals consistently and (2) at least energy cost.   It can even re-commission the building regularly.  Energy saving are typically 25%-40%.

The benefit of using AI is the ability for it to react quickly to changing circumstances, which other systems aren’t able to do. Other applications we are engaged on include compressed air management and refrigeration systems.

If you would like to know more email us at info@on-site.energy or call on 0161 444 9989.

Onsite Energy Projects provides energy savings and energy generation solutions to energy intensive businesses, without capex if required.

Are you getting the most from your CHP?
By:

By Onsite Energy Projects

We visit a lot of customer sites and am often struck that the heat from CHP is not being used, or that they have operating problems with the CHP and their returns aren’t what they expected.

I equally see CHP vendors and other proposals to customers that advocate a power only solution, but fail to mention the CO2 consequences or IMPORTANTLY the benefits they are missing if they were to achieve Good Quality CHP (GQCHP).

Why is this using the heat important ?

  • 50% of the energy being produced by the CHP is heat – so not using it just wastes it. It also means your CO2emissions will be around 70% higher if you only use the power than just consuming grid power.  If you can use the heat, you can achieve overall CO2
  • If you can use enough of the heat for useful purposes you can reduce your electricity and / or gas consumption. You can also qualify for exemption from Climate Change Levy (CCL) on your gas costs.   For a 2.0 MW CHP that is worth about £160,000 this year – BUT the CCL rates are going up and by 2025 that saving in CCL will be worth £320,000 a year.

So what can you use heat for ?  Well literally you can apply the CHP heat to provide anything from +270oC to -40oC.  So anything from cold stores, refrigerated food manufacturing, cheese maturing, swimming pools to steam intensive manufacturing and even chemicals, ceramics or glass manufacturing with high temperature furnaces can benefit from CHP.

For one of our clients, we have identified a way to save over 2,000,000 kWh of electricity and 12,000,000 kWh of gas using the waste heat from the CHP – with savings of over £450,000.  For another in plastic injection moulding, we can save around 30% of the costs by using the heat.

This is the reason Onsite Energy Projects exists – we help businesses implement the full potential of both energy efficiency and on-site generation measures.  We recognised the challenge of capex availability and can provide a no-capex, off-balance sheet solution.

If you would like to know more email us at info@on-site.energy or call on 0161 444 9989.

Onsite Energy Projects provides energy savings and energy generation solutions to energy intensive businesses, without capex if required.

The danger of green energy tariffs
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Entry into renewable energy PPAs soared in 2019, with European corporates signing up for 8GW of power supply arrangements.  Groups of major corporates such as RE100 (http://there100.org/) advocate for a collaborative, global initiative of influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity, to work to increase demand for – and delivery of – renewable energy.  Additionally, most energy suppliers now offer green energy tariffs.

As a result more and more businesses are claiming they use 100% green energy, and claim green credentials as a result.  There is a clear view that as a result of entering into these arrangements they feel their job is done.   But have they achieved net zero ?   The answer is NO and they are missing the benefits of genuinely engaging in energy efficiency and sustainability.

The correct order to delivering sustainable energy benefits is:

1st  –  Minimise energy demand in operations through efficiency measures

2nd –  Solve for that reduced demand as much as possible with efficient on-site generation

3rd –   Solve for the residual grid demand with green energy

The impact of adopting PPAs can be the reverse, as the organisation commits to buying their full current demand, which means they are effectively blocked from considering operational changes that reduce their energy demand.  Reducing consumption is key to reduce emissions and gain business advantage.

Don’t get me wrong, I am an advocate of renewable energy but organisations need to be mindful of whether they are (a) committing too much or too early and (b) whether they have addressed all their efficiency opportunities.

Businesses who are genuinely sustainable should take a close look at their own operations for ways to both reduce consumption AND generate their own low carbon power locally.   These measures can take time to deliver, so perhaps the correct approach is to allow room for these savings to work in alongside PPA commitments ?  The long term business benefits of embracing this genuinely can become a source of sustainable competitive advantage.

This is the reason Onsite Energy Projects exists – we help businesses implement the full potential of both energy efficiency and on-site generation measures.  We recognised the challenge of capex availability and can provide a no-capex, off-balance sheet solution.

If you would like to know more email us at info@on-site.energy or call on 0161 444 9989.

Onsite Energy Projects provides energy savings and energy generation solutions to energy intensive businesses, without capex if required.

Is NET ZERO possible for heavy gas users?
By:

Achieving NET ZERO emissions is a significant task, made all the more difficult if you use lots of gas for your process (for steam, drying, frying, furnaces etc). Gas is around 5-6x cheaper than grid electricity, so the cost of switching from gas is prohibitive.

This is a challenge I see a lot in all sorts of heat intensive sectors (food manufacturing, glass manufacturing, healthcare, care home etc).  Gas is typically used either for direct combustion or indirectly to produce steam.

In 2008, the electricity grid emitted over 570 g/kWh, and gas is around 180 g/kWh, so gas was “clean”.  In 2019 the grid has reduced to 255 g/kWh, and is tracking down to 130 g/kWh by 2030, with a target of zero by 2050, so gas is becoming seen as “dirty”, as it really hasn’t changed much.

Firstly there are developments happening that may start to decarbonise the grid such as biogas injection and hydrogen injection. You may wish to check how your equipment will run on a mix of gases.  For some it may mean planning to replace or refit equipment.

There are technology alternatives that can be looked at but a lot will depend on the temperature of the heat that you generate using gas just now e.g. furnaces, ovens, steam or hot water.  Also consideration should be given to recovering waste heat and using it to reduce gas consumption.

A relevant consideration is that over 50% of most electricity bills relates to “non-energy” costs.  This is the cost of the grid transformation that is happening including renewables obligations, cost of FITs, use of system charges etc.   If you generate power at your location but can often save a lot of these, which helps bring down the price gap to gas, and reduces the cost of switching.  Also this can enable a different mix of power generation to be considered at the site to re-balance electricity and gas use.

Many of the measures may have a longer payback time though.  How can you do them when the criteria for payback is only, say 2 years ?  This is the reason Onsite Energy Projects exists.  We recognised the challenge of capex availability and can provide a no-capex, off-balance sheet solution to implement both energy efficiency and on-site generation measures.

We may also be able to identify additional improvement measures, and deliver them all without any capex. If you would like to know more email us at info@on-site.energy or call on 0161 444 9989.

Onsite Energy Projects provides energy savings and energy generation solutions to energy intensive businesses, without capex if required.

Do you have a Net Zero strategy?
By:

The UK has become the first major economy to pass laws requiring all greenhouse gas emissions to be net zero by 2050.  The electricity grid is decarbonising (its carbon intensity has dropped by over 50% since 2011 to where it is today – 254 g CO2 per kWh) and is forecast to drop another 50% by 2030.  Grid costs are rising to pay for this transition.

A key lies in the word “NET” because whilst some businesses will struggle to reduce carbon, others could actually become POSITIVE – e.g. generating excess renewable power.  New business models and revenue streams could emerge though

So what does this mean for YOUR business ?  How do you develop a net zero strategy ?

  1. Significant changes will be needed to the way you do business and use energy.The changes could impact how your employees come to work, how you distribute your products, sell your products, procure your raw materials and use your facilities.  Processes may require to be redesigned and reengineered.  This will mean the ability to embrace change, challenge existing assumptions, innovate and understanding of alternative methods and costs

Businesses should be looking NOW at their own operations and looking for ways to BOTH reduce consumption AND generate their own low carbon power locally in a sustainable way.  Simply buying a green energy tariff is not sufficient. There are many very good long term business benefits by embracing this genuinely, which can become a source of competitive advantage.

For businesses that use a lot of gas, this is going to be particularly challenging. Gas is cheap (5-6 x cheaper than electricity), so changing away from gas will be expensive.

  1. Those changes will have financial costs that may not be affordable within conventional capex constraints.New business models such as energy as a service are increasingly available to help bridge the gap, and enable changes to happen.

NET ZERO WILL REQUIRE NOTHING SHORT OF AN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, with new business models and technology, and all within the next 30 years. 

These are the reasons Onsite Energy Projects exists – we help businesses innovate, reengineer their energy supply chain and implement the full potential of both energy efficiency and on-site generation measures.  We recognised the challenge of capex availability and can provide a no-capex, off-balance sheet, solution to make it all happen.

If you would like to know more email us at info@on-site.energy or call on 0161 444 9989.

Onsite Energy Projects provides energy savings and energy generation solutions to energy intensive businesses, without capex if required.

Saving money using Artificial Intelligence
By:

By OnSite Energy Projects

We are used to BMS (building management systems) to control buildings, and spreadsheets to analyse data. Both of these require human input (and are prone to human error). So does Artificial Intelligence have any role to play, and could it save money? Firstly, what is AI?

  • “Artificial Intelligence” (“AI”) is software “able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, decision-making, and translation between languages”.
  • “Machine Learning” (“ML”) is the “application of artificial intelligence that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed”

At OEP, we are already using AI / ML in two very real building and energy management applications and seeing £££ financial benefits:

  • Energy Management. We can ingest half-hourly meter data daily, and the software will identify patterns that could indicate a fault or anomaly, so it can be investigated before it becomes a cost. The ML learns from human past action (or inaction) on the issues raised to know if it should raise the issue again in future, or simply log it.

We provide “Energy Management as a Service” for less than £10 per meter per month, which provides over-loaded energy managers with a proactive management tool, particularly across an estate of meters.  An example benefit we picked up within 24 hours, was a (human) BMS programming error that would have cost £60,000 had it gone undetected.

We have plans to extend this to monitoring sub-meter data as well.

  • Automated BMS. AI/ML can also be deployed directly to manage the BMS.  The software “learns” how the building reacts over time to different events and climate conditions (creating a “digital twin”) and can develop its own strategies for how to optimise the building to (1) deliver the climate goals consistently and (2) at least energy cost.   It can even re-commission the building regularly.  Saving are typically 25%-40% of HVAC load – the impact of running the equipment at the right times and loads, and turning off when not needed.

The benefits of using AI is the ability for it to react quickly to changing circumstances. Other applications we are engaged on using AI are compressed air management and refrigeration systems.

If you would like to know more email us at info@on-site.energy or call on 0161 444 9989.

Onsite Energy Projects provides energy savings and energy generation solutions to energy intensive businesses, without capex if required.

ESOS 2 is complete, so what now?
By:

5 December 2019 has gone!  ESOS 2 is complete! ESOS 3 is 4 years away… but customers are asking for sustainability improvements and cost savings, and on top of that, SECR is now with us.

That’s Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting, and means that qualifying businesses will need to track and report their kWh consumption and carbon emissions (in various groupings) and report them ANNUALLY within their published financial statements. The chances are that if you had to do ESOS you will have to do SECR.   The Government expects more than 11,000 businesses to report compared to only around 3,000 who had to do ESOS.

SECR requires by law, a statement in your company’s published accounts about your energy and carbon consumption. Also relevant performance indicators and a narrative about material actions being taken to reduce energy consumption and emissions.  Note the word “material”. That means they won’t allow changes that impact say less than 2% of your energy spend to be included.

In practice, business performance in respect of emissions and consumption against their competitors is going to be visible for the first time.  In competitive and environmentally sensitive sectors, such as food sector, it means that customers may look at these reports and could prioritise their supply chain based on it, so its going to be important to demonstrate progress and a high performance.  The whole essence of SECR is to use peer pressure to drive action.

So the ESOS 2 report has highlighted a series of measures, but how can you do them when the criteria for payback is only, say 2 years ?      This is the reason Onsite Energy Projects exists.  We recognised the challenge of capex availability and can provide a no-capex, off-balance sheet solution to implement both energy efficiency and on-site generation measures.

We may also be able to identify additional improvement measures, and deliver them all without any capex. If you would like to know more email us at info@on-site.energy or call on 0161 444 9989.

Onsite Energy Projects provides energy savings and energy generation solutions to energy intensive businesses, without capex if required.

Electricity Savings in Plain Sight
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Take a look at your electricity bill. What do you see? Many will probably look at the rate and the bottom line £ amount, and often that’s about it before it gets passed for payment.

Energy savings in the past has been associated with re-broking to secure a better rate.  Even then, fewer than 60% of UK businesses use a broker.  Negotiating a better rate is right and proper. But what you or your broker is actually doing is only affecting around 40%-50% of the bill – the wholesale element – and the scope for savings in that is limited.

BUT TAKE A CLOSER LOOK at your bill – particularly the itemised elements – you will find that over 50% of most electricity bills relates to “NON-ENERGY” costs (we regularly see 58%-60%).

“NON-ENERGY” costs are the recharges being made through your bills for Government subsidies for renewables obligations, contracts for difference and feed-in-tariffs, and also grid use of system charges (DNUos, TNUoS etc). These charges are generally shown as a £/kWh, and are set to rise by 30% over the period to 2030, due to known contractual commitments.   So that’s 30% more on 60% of your bill will impact by 2030 – that’s an increase of at least 18%.

What many businesses don’t realise is that if you generate power at your premises, and don’t use the grid, then these “non-energy” costs aren’t payable as they are only charged based on kWh consumed through the grid.

However, taking measures to generate energy on site may face a longer payback than you are willing to invest in.  This is one of the reason Onsite Energy Projects exists, to help businesses implement both energy efficiency and on-site generation measures for these longer payback measures.  We recognised the challenge of capex availability and can provide a no-capex, off-balance sheet solution

If you would like to know more email us at info@on-site.energy or call on 0161 444 9989.

Onsite Energy Projects provides energy savings and energy generation solutions to energy intensive businesses, without capex if required.