• The benefits of driver changeouts
• Options related to steam system imbalances
• Opportunities to eliminate bottlenecks in heating and cooling systems, while improving overall site efficiency

When the site assessment is focused solely on the utility system, cost savings typically approach 10 to 15%. Savings can increase to 15 to 25% when process units are included.

What’s Involved in Strategic Resource Management?

Site Assessment Approach—The key to developing an effective approach to energy savings is to focus on the role of the energy system as a strategic resource for the processing facilities it supports. Learn more >>

Site Assessment Activities—The approach developed by Veritech incorporates both the strategic utility and process integration activities. Learn more >>

Benefits—The Strategic Site Assessment focuses on understanding the site utility system, then applies pinch technology to assess and capitalize on energy savings at the process demand level—with complete knowledge of overall utility system implications. Learn more >>


Site Assessment Approach

Energy is a controllable resource. The key to developing an effective approach to energy savings is to focus on the role of the energy system as a strategic resource for the processing facilities it supports.

Many organizations are consolidating manufacturing capabilities into fewer, larger facilities. And that puts increasing expansion pressures on existing utility systems. With this trend, it is vital to understand the fundamental operating characteristics of both the existing utility system and the processes they serve today … and tomorrow.


Site Assessment Activities

Improving overall resource utilization. The approach developed by Veritech incorporates both the strategic utility and process integration activities.

Phase One: Veritech uses its ESteam Steam System software to develop an overview of the current utility system and characterize the key types of energy delivery by the utility system (e.g., direct fired heating, steam heating, non-heating steam demands, steam to back-pressure turbines, steam to condensing turbines, etc.). With a strategic overview of the utility system, it is possible to determine the proper economics for various types of fuel and steam use and power production on site and identify where and why inefficient use of these resources is occurring.

Phase Two: With an understanding of what drives the utility system from an operating and economic perspective, we then use Pinch Technology to develop preliminary pinch targets for the main units at the site. This identifies how well the individual units are utilizing heat flows within and between units and how well the utility system fits the underlying thermodynamic demand profile of the units as a whole.

Phase Three: Once the strategic overview is complete, both for the current plant and for planned expansion, more detailed analyses can be conducted in the priority areas identified in the overview. This could include significant structural changes to the utility system such as co-generation, steam-electric driver changes, condensing turbine elimination, new process compression driver selection etc. It might also include more detailed pinch analyses of those units showing the most potential for improvement in the preliminary pinch targeting exercise.

Phase Four: Develop performance monitoring systems for simple, focused information management and reporting. This last step organizes existing plant data information systems into a spreadsheet environment familiar to most engineering users. As such, it provides a flexible, tailored model of the plant utility system. This model can be utilized for many plant functions, ranging from energy allocation for accounting purposes and management reporting to analysis of existing plant performance and studies of future expansion scenarios.


Benefits

The Strategic Site Assessment focuses on understanding the site utility system, then applies pinch technology to assess and capitalize on energy savings at the process demand level—with complete knowledge of overall utility system implications. The benefits of this approach are:

• Considers the overall utility system initially to focus on largest opportunities
• Characterizes the utility system/process unit interface
• Quantifies the individual opportunities at the site
• Prioritizes the opportunities on a cost/benefit basis for the existing site and future site plans