Emerson Process Management has released Energy Advisor, a real-time energy management information system that automates the process of monitoring and managing energy consumption across mills, plants, and refineries. With real-time information about a site’s energy performance, users can identify inefficiencies and irregularities and take corrective action, saving on average 5%-10% in energy costs annually, according to the company.
“Energy Advisor is a natural extension to Emerson’s Smart Energy Management portfolio,” said Peter Zornio, chief strategic officer, Emerson Process Management. “In 2011, we announced the company’s commitment to improving our customers’ industrial energy efficiency and we began focusing on how to help our customers best optimize combustion processes, steam systems, and on-site electrical generation.
“In 2013, Emerson unveiled its pervasive sensing strategy that extends wireless technologies beyond process controls to include the extensive use of wireless sensors to monitor energy consumption in our customers’ operations. Energy Advisor leverages this technology with analytics to provide visualization of the full energy picture, helping companies make smarter decisions with real-time insight into site-wide energy performance. ”
Energy Advisor pulls energy data from various sources such as Emerson’s DeltaV and Ovation distributed control systems, as well as its wireless infrastructure, to provide real-time analysis and historical context. Using Emerson’s unique process models, users are now able to analyze and compare three critical items: the amount of energy a system is designed to use, what it has used over time, and what it is consuming in the moment.
Energy Advisor, said Emerson, integrates seamlessly with current site control and information systems, allowing a straight-forward and cost-effective implementation. Key features of the technology include:
- Consumption Monitoring: identifies and logs root causes for energy overconsumption events.
- Data Integrity Checker: verifies integrity of energy data before it is used.
- Energy Target Calculator: creates models from past historical data to predict target energy consumption. Optional process models from Emerson provide theoretical targets as well as other energy-related performance indicators.
- Standard Reports: including cost per unit of production, energy performance trends, and electrical demand cost.
