The case of Ornua shows how existing infrastructure can be utilized smartly. The flexOn energy management system transforms the cold store and electric boiler into dynamic energy storages that react flexibly to market prices.
The result: reduced energy costs and an improved ROI.
Ornua, the company behind the Kerrygold brand, is Ireland's largest exporter of Irish dairy products. It supplies 110 countries worldwide and has 10 business locations. Ornua's German site in Neukirchen-Vluyn is responsible for packaging, distribution and sale of Ornua products in Germany and Austria.
Ornua has a cold store with a cooling machine to store dairy products. The company also generates its heat electrically using an electric boiler. However, as there was no intelligent control system, the potential of the infrastructure could not be fully utilized.
No dynamic response to energy prices
Ornua has already taken initial measures to reduce energy consumption and is cutting peak loads. Further costs and CO2 emissions can only be saved through dynamic load shifting. This allows energy consumption to be optimized in response to price signals from the energy markets and the availability of renewable energies.
The flexible potential of the electric boiler is not exploited
Ornua has an electric heat generator in the form of an electric boiler. The consumption of the electric boiler can be flexibly optimized to dynamic market prices. Until now, however, Ornua has not been able to exploit the potential as there was no intelligent extension of the control system. As a result, an automated response to dynamic signals was not possible.
“The difficulty with this project lay in the communication between the systems. Ensuring that the right signals were sent to the right place at the right time to start the heating process. Together, we succeeded in doing this and the electricity cost savings can be easily analyzed using flexOn!”
Our intelligent flexOn energy management platform uses Ornua's cold store as a dynamic energy storage. flexOn pre-cools the cold store at times when electricity prices are low. The energy management platform utilizes the cold buffer to reduce electricity consumption at times when electricity prices are high. We harness temperature fluctuations of just a few degrees below zero to consistently guarantee product quality.Kühllager als dynamischen Energiespeicher. flexOn kühlt das Kühllager in Zeiten mit niedrigen Strompreisen vor. Die Energiemanagement-Plattform nutzt den Kältepuffer, um den Stromverbrauch in Zeiten mit teuren Strompreisen zu reduzieren. Wir machen uns hierbei Temperaturschwankung von wenigen Minusgraden zunutze, bei der die Produktqualität konsequent gewährleistet wird.
The intelligent energy management platform uses a similar principle for the electric heat generator. With the help of AI, flexOn analyses the electricity market prices and optimizes the consumption of the electric boiler accordingly. When electricity is cheap, the electric boiler is preheated. As soon as prices become more expensive again, consumption is reduced. In this way, the electric heat generator can also be used as a heat storage to make Ornua's electricity consumption more flexible.
Reduced energy costs through market pri
ce optimization
Full use of existing infrastructure's flexibility potential
Improving the ROI of the
electric heat generator
