Padd Energy has recently worked with a major commercial food producer to carry out a full site-wide energy mapping exercise.
Farming over 3,500 acres, Alan Bartlett & Sons grows and supplies 60,000 tonnes of vegetables for the UK’s leading supermarkets. The business consumes significant volumes of energy to operate its busy packing factory and to maintain optimum storage conditions for its produce, which at peak times employs over 500 people.
The project
Padd Energy carried out a full strategic energy appraisal of the processing plant in conjunction with the installation of a wireless sub-metering solution and live online energy monitoring platform.
Site-wide energy mapping highlighted the flow of energy to identify energy optimisation opportunities. Our review process includes an overview reduction report and, where appropriate, assesses the feasibility and integration of options such as demand side response, triad avoidance, voltage optimisation, renewable energy and battery storage.
Results
Our review of the entire site looked at a wide range of options in the context of business needs and priorities. The energy monitoring platform has provided the site production teams with a new insight into factory operations. This has allowed the business to immediately identify simple energy efficiency measures that can be implemented quickly. The impact of these can now be tracked and shared with the factory employees. Ideas have also been shared on more innovative options for both energy efficiency and generation. These include renewable energy technology, combined heat and power, energy storage and smart energy infrastructure that will negate the increasing impact of electricity grid and price issues.
Padd Energy’s CEO Chris Paddey said: “Our starting point is always to get to know the business we are working with and understand its priorities for quality, efficiency and sustainability. This approach, combined with our understanding of energy systems and technologies, including energy storage and renewables, meant we were able to find exactly the right strategy to match their growth plans.”
Toby Bartlett, director of Alan Bartlett & Sons said: “We consulted Padd Energy because we wanted to work with a company that has extensive experience in the energy sector and understands how to develop strategies that make commercial sense. Chris and the team carried out a high-level energy appraisal combined with the energy data exploration and looked at this in the context of how our business works operationally. Their recommendations were soundly based and we now have a robust plan for a sustainable solution that will help us grow.”
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