THE CHALLENGE
The facility was operating a 900-ton chiller plant with three centrifugal chillers that ran in a fixed lead-lag arrangement regardless of actual load conditions, routinely cycling short and driving up demand charges. HVAC energy costs had reached $4.10 per square foot, nearly double the industry average for similar manufacturing facilities. The plant had no submetering, so management had no way to identify where energy was being wasted or verify whether past capital improvements had delivered any measurable savings.
OUR SOLUTION
Vertex installed real-time electrical submetering on each chiller, cooling tower, and major air handling unit, along with BTU meters on the chilled water loop to calculate actual plant efficiency in kilowatts per ton. New chiller sequencing logic was programmed into the Niagara N4 platform to stage chillers based on real-time load with condenser water temperature reset and variable-speed cooling tower fan control. Supply air temperature and duct static pressure resets were implemented on all production area air handlers, and a demand response sequence was configured to automatically shed non-critical loads during peak demand windows. An M&V dashboard displays real-time and historical energy performance against the established baseline.
SCOPE OF WORK
“The submetering alone was worth the investment. For the first time, we can actually see what each piece of equipment is costing us. The chiller plant optimization dropped our utility bill dramatically, and the demand response automation keeps us out of the penalty tiers during summer peaks.”