Save your energy!

The California Energy Commission offers a series of handbooks on energy efficiency, including How to Hire an Energy Auditor to Identify Energy Efficiency Projects; Energy Accounting: A Key Tool in Managing Energy Costs; How to Finance Public Sector Energy Efficiency Projects; and How to Hire an Energy Services Company.

Pacific Gas & Electric (www.pge.com), California’s largest energy provider, actively assists its customers in energy management.

“We offer integrated audits, auditing operations and making recommendations,” says Phil Pennino, account representative to 30 of the largest accounts served by PG&E. “The recommendations might be introducing adjustable speed drives, microsensors or changing the flow process for high-efficiency chillers. We also encourage our processor customers to take advantage of rebates that help offset some of the capital costs of implementing energy-efficient technologies.” (See sidebar, “Grimmway Farms saves more than $300,000 annually,” below.)

PG&E assigns representatives to large processing firms like Kraft, Del Monte, and Nestle USA. The utility offers Standard Performance Contracts (SPC) as an incentive to implement energy-saving systems. It also counsels manufacturers in load management.

All of California’s investor-owned utilities participate in the SPC Program.

“We try to get companies to take the load off our energy systems during the peak hours of noon to 6 p.m.,” says Pennino. “We like them to understand the benefit of reducing usage as much as they can during these times. Some companies look at our cost/benefit analyses and adjust their production and energy usage where they can to capitalize on the incentives.”

Energy savings in the Sunshine State

Florida’s horrendous 2004 hurricane season put the spotlight on one of the state’s top energy priorities: identifying “interruptible customers,” that is, those customers that can be disconnected during capacity shortages without suffering serious consequences.

“Obviously, food processors and cold storage operators need energy nearly all the time,” says Jennings of TECO Energy. Jennings’ industrial customers include the Cargill and Florida’s Natural juice operations, Smithfield Foods and an assortment of seafood processors and cold storage providers.

In preparation for the storms, some companies installed backup generators -- a measure encouraged by Florida energy providers to ease load demand during blistering summer days as well as natural disasters. TECO’s Standby Generator Program gives monthly dollar-per-kilowatt credits to companies that install generators large enough to sustain plant operations during emergencies and agree to emergency interruption of normal electrical service.

TECO energy audits are funded through a “conservation clause” that calls for a portion of energy billing to be set aside for conservation measures.

Audited customers are informed of varying time-of-use rates, which encourage operation during off-peak hours. Companies that do not qualify for TECO programs are often referred to federal Dept. of Energy programs where they may still find financial advantage in energy upgrades.

Processors also have incentives to upgrade to more energy-efficient equipment. Programs include rebates for retrofitting to fluorescent lighting and fixtures that are more energy efficient than existing lighting and dollar-per-ton rebates for air-conditioning units with high energy-efficiency ratings. Per-watt rebates applied to other plant equipment can also offset some of the cost of retrofitting.

Upgrades without upfront capital

Minnesota customers have upgraded equipment and facilities with no upfront capital and a guaranteed positive cash flow resulting from energy savings.

The Shared Savings program offered by Alliant Energy and Interstate Power & Light has reduced energy needs and costs and even reduced labor requirements and improved productivity for some customers capitalizing on the plan. The program makes not just a claim but a guarantee that savings in lower energy bills will pay for capital improvements aimed at more efficient energy usage.

Alliant Energy (www.alliantenergy.com), which serves customers in portions of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, has a good reason to assist clients with the financing of energy-efficient capital upgrades. It’s more cost-effective for the utility to save generation than to build new power plants and to upgrade infrastructure. Alliant recognizes that payback on energy-efficiency projects may not be as competitive as other investments, so it has removed the risk portion of the equation by guaranteeing plus-side cash flow based on energy savings.

The program begins with a no-cost audit from an Alliant Energy-Interstate Power & Light account manager who analyzes the plant, calculates energy savings and presents an improvement plan. Energy savings and quantifiable non-energy savings (usually resulting from environmental and safety measures) pay for the project. The plan requires zero upfront cost and a five-year repayment in monthly bill installments. Customers can relieve capital constraints by listing the payment as an operating cost.