Peak shaving project.

With increasing focus on peak loads, the dynamics of electrical tariffs are changing. For property owners, managing their refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pump (HVACR) systems becomes crucial, in avoiding inflated tariffs and energy bills. This management is also vital for the stability and reliability of the grid, preventing potential blackouts during high-demand periods.

The electrical grid relies on a balance of supply and demand at every moment. In contrast, buildings, cold stores, and supermarkets have significant thermal inertia that can be utilised to shift loads away from critical hours. Energy can be stored in goods and buildings during off-peak hours, when electricity is cheaper, to offload during peak hours.

This approach can reduce operating costs in most sites, and when implemented widely, it can reduce peak kWh prices and the risk for blackouts. ClimaCheck has been working with customers, to ensure system efficiency, which inherently reduces peak loads.

Increased focus

Lately, the focus has increased on actively switching loads to achieve lower energy costs and tariffs. Utilities compensating customers, for reducing loads on request is becoming more commonplace. This can be a customised contract for large customers or it can be a part of a wider evolution with aggregators that amass thousands of sites.

We’ve assisted customers in this aspect for some time and have just finished a research and pilot project with the Swedish Innovation Agency (Vinnova), Research institute of Sweden (RISE), and one of the leading refrigeration contractors in Sweden (Caverion) aimed to reduce loads from supermarkets during critical hours.

Result

The result of this peak shaving project is a methodology and guide on how to practically implement peak shaving in supermarkets. This will be published in the near future, so keep your eyes open for this.

If you are interested, do not hesitate to contact us, or send an email direct to Niklas and we’ll inform you when the report and guide are available.