Cornish food plant cuts HVAC energy costs by 23%
20 Jun 2011
Callington, UK – Tamar Foods, a UK producer of sausage rolls, pasties and pies has saved 23% on its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) energy costs following installation of ABB variable-speed drives at its Callington plant in Cornwall.
Inverter Drive Systems (IDS), an ABB drives supplier, looked at the potential for savings on the plant’s HVAC system, which used around 15% of Tamar Foods’ total electricity consumption. This involved retrofitting the HVAC system with 11 ABB standard drives for HVAC with ratings ranging from 15 to 45 kW.
“Because we use sub-metering, we are able to distinguish the energy costs of the HVAC and refrigeration systems,” says Thomas Parrott, health, safety and environmental manager for Tamar Foods.
“Before the installation of the drives, we were using 2,600 kWhrs a day for the HVAC system. After the installation, this fell to 2,000 kWhrs a day, a saving of around 23%.”
Another obvious candidate was a 45kW chilled water pump on the company’s refrigeration system. All the products at the plant are chilled before dispatch and the refrigeration system accounts for some 60% of the plant’s total energy consumption.
IDS installed a 45kW ABB drive on the chilled water pump, which is saving the company 43% on the pump’s electricity costs, with a payback time of less than 12 months.
“As well as the large saving, the short payback time is also welcome – because of the challenging economic climate, we need to have payback times of less than two years,” said Parrott.
“We have our own KPIs for energy saving and aim to achieve a five% year-on-year reduction in energy use. These projects have certainly contributed a great deal towards achieving that goal.”
As well as the direct energy savings, the company has also reported an increase in motor life, as well as reduced maintenance and labour costs.
