“The Northmore Gordon team spent a great deal of time gathering the information, which was made all
the more difficult due to COVID 19. Their diligence enabled a fantastic outcome for Aurora Place. The
measurement and verification process allowed us to validate the energy savings of the project which
confirmed the decision to replace our equipment. The revenue from the energy savings certificates
allowed us to invest in further developments at Aurora Place”.
– Duncan Demol, National DC Faclities Manager costs reducing the payback.

The Client

Aurora Place, is a premium grade commercial building, with over 70 high profile tenants ranging from financial, law and health related industries. The commerical tower features 18 levels and is 49,400m2 bounded by Phillip Street, Bent Street and Macquaries Street. It is an iconic site, featuring in the Sydney Skyline, clearly visible from the famous Sydney Harbour.

Key Facts

Equipment Upgraded: HVAC Chiller System, Chillers, VSD
Annual Savings Energy: 309,000 kWh
Project Certificate Value: $46,000
Program: NSW Energy Savings Scheme (ESS)
Method: Project Based Activities (PIAM&V)

The Project

Aurora Place determined an energy efficiency project was going to be a beneficial and rewarding course of action. The project involved a full overhaul of the site’s HVAC chiller system which included the replacement of 5 existing chillers, base building cooling tower upgrades, variable speed drive (VSD) replacement on chilled water and condenser water pumps, upgrades to the outside air variable control and hot water coil bypass dampers. In addition to works on various air handling units. The creation of ESCs for this project provided more revenue to further improve the performance of the building. The M&V work done during the ESC creation process also allowed Northmore Gordon to monitor the energy savings as a result of the project.

Challenges

• Aging equipment could impact reliability
• M&V process discovered fault in control system
• Energy bills represent a substantial cost to data centre operators
• Aging equipment could impact reliability

Additional Benefits

• Reduction in energy consumption
• Upgraded to a more eco friendly product
• Chillers provider a greater range and configuration improving the cooling capability of the building

Our Role

Northmore Gordon created energy savings certificates (ESCs) using M&V methodologies on the site consumption before and after the implementation of the HVAC works. Northmore Gordon completed the measurement & verification (M&V) plan, collected site data & supporting evidence, and built the baseline and operating energy models to calculate the energy savings. Northmore Gordon also provided Aurora Place with price certainty to ensure the customer received the payment they had forecast.

For more information contact: c.morgan@northmoregordon.com

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“Frew Foods worked closely with Northmore Gordon on the biomass boiler project to measure and verify carbon savings. We successfully created 10,183 VEEC’s in Sep ‘21… Northmore Gordon showed they understood what we were trying to achieve… the project was delivered through COVID-19 which for our business was a challenge. The work done by Northmore Gordon to support my abattoir was professional and Alan was a pleasure to work with over the project. Thank You Sincerely.”
– Robert Frew, Owner & Managing Director at Frew Foods International Pty Ltd

The Client
Frew Foods International is a large wholesaler of quality lamb and sheep meat products to the major supermarkets and butchers across Australia.As a halal and tier 2 accredited processor, Frew Foods exports to over 100 countries across all major continents including Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Their modernised abattoir in Stawell, Victoria employs over 500 people and has the capacity to process over 6000 lambs and sheep a day.

Key Facts

• Equipment Upgraded – Installation of 3MW biomass boiler and 90,000 litre heat storage tank
• Annual Energy Savings – 21,160 GJ Gas
• Certificate Value – $800,000
• Program – Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU)
• Method – Project Based Activities (PBA)

The Project

The site’s Energy Conservation Measure (ECM) upgraded its boiler system to replace the natural gas fired boilers from the existing boiler room with a biomass boiler in the biomass shed. The biomass boiler is fueled with locally sourced sawdust. The replacement included the installation of a 3 MW thermal biomass boiler with associated pipework, fittings and additional gantry, connection to the existing hot water circuit, and isolation of the existing natural gas boilers.

Challenges
• M&V modelling challenges imposed by COVID restrictions
• Logistic issues with product fuel delivery due to COVID
• Drastic gas price variations

Outcomes
• More hot water capability with lower carbon emissions
• Less affected by natural gas price variations

Our Role
Northmore Gordon provided an end to end service to ensure the project complied with the Victorian Energy Upgrade Program to maximise the financial incentives. Northmore Gordon’s Certified Measurement & Verification Professionals (CMVPs) created the M&V plan, collected site data and supporting evidence, built the baseline and operating energy models to calculate the energy savings. Subsequently we wrote the M&V report, and then created and traded VEECs on the clients behalf.

For more information contact: c.morgan@northmoregordon.com

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About Bulla
Regal Cream Products Pty Ltd trading as Bulla Dairy Foods is an Australian owned and operated company, manufacturing chilled and frozen dairy products including cream, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese and ice cream.

Operations take place at five sites in Victoria – Forest Street in Colac, Connor Street in Colac, Mulgrave, Dandenong and Derrimut. A significant quantity of energy is used in the form of electricity, gas, hot water, steam, chilled water, and compressed air. Energy using equipment includes steam boilers, air compressors, vacuum pumps, pumps, cogeneration, chillers, wastewater treatment and various dairy foods production lines.

Project overview
This project is a demonstration of the strong business case for comprehensive but strategic submetering and monitoring of energy and water. Bulla recognises that good metering and monitoring underpins effective energy management and is essential if energy and water waste is to be minimised.

Bulla’s visibility of when, where and how energy and water is used throughout its sites has been limited to boundary billing meters and a small number of submeters. Furthermore, many of the sub-meters that do exist were not networked and/or meter data was not readily accessible/viewable by stakeholders. Consequently, Bulla has developed and implemented a pilot metering system at its Connor Street site in Colac, Victoria.

The project scope included:

• Map existing sub-metering capability and design a metering upgrade plan.
• Specify, source and install meters for all key utilities
  (electricity, gas, steam, co-generation, hot water, chilled water, and compressed air).
• Select and install a data collection and reporting software platform.
• Streamline routine environmental reporting.
• Provide a tool to ensure that energy and water consumption does not drift over time.
• Provide a tool to track improvements towards water and energy targets.
• In total, 35 existing meters were connected to the new energy management software platform and 27 new meters installed. The site is now able to monitor electricity, gas, water, and steam consumption, as well as electricity and steam generation, and waste production, by key plant areas.

This project was made possible with the assistance of funding from two grants; the Dairy Australia Data Technology Assessment Scheme (Co-funded by Dairy Australia) and Food Innovation Australia Limited) and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) Business Recovery Energy Efficiency Fund (BREEF).

The problem

• Bulla has been unable to evaluate the energy performance of plant services and key processes against industry and internal benchmarks, and unable to observe or react to abnormal energy consumption events.
• Existing processes for extracting and handling energy use and environmental data were manual and relied on spreadsheets and screenshots from the SCADA system.
• Metering can be expensive, especially steam meters.
• Gaps in capacity and in-house expertise.
• There are many energy data software packages on the market, with variations in capability, features, ease ofuse, initial costs, and ongoing costs.

Bulla sought external expertise to support the following project steps:
1. Establish a detailed picture of existing metering capability.
2. Design a master metering plan.
3. Evaluate a range of software platforms against Bulla’s needs.
4. Specify, procure, install, commission and validate meters.
5. Configure software and interface existing and new meters.
6. End-to-end validation of meter data.
7. Fine tune dashboards and reports.

Outsourcing of expertise
A key success factor was the use of energy management specialists Northmore Gordon to design the metering plan, provide guidance on meter technology options and installation requirements, develop criteria for software platform assessment, evaluate software products, and assist with selection of the best option. A specialist vendor was also used to install and commission meters and the software platform.

Use of a dedicated data handling platform Another key project decision was to utilise an advanced centralised and dedicated software platform for collecting, collating, displaying, and reporting energy and water data. The tendering selection process weighed ease-of-use, capacity for in-house customisation, and reporting and alarming functions.

Bulla chose the Schneider ‘Power Monitoring Expert’ platform, implemented by ‘Azzo’. The system can issue alerts for abnormal energy usage or energy performance of equipment and processes. It also has the capacity to hold and report other environmental data. The cloud based platform is very customisable and capable of dashboarding, sending alerts, aggregating data, shadow billing, baselining, identifying missing/corrupt data, reporting (daily, weekly, monthly), KPI tracking, and advanced data visualisation, such as Sankey diagrams and heatmaps.

Key outcomes and learnings

• Metering in and of itself does not directly produce savings – it is the application of the tools, data and operational insights that this project has realised, that will lead to decisions and actions that create savings.
• A metering system needs to be cost-effective, and over-metering avoided.
• The cost of purchasing and installing meters varies greatly depending on type and size. Electricity and water meters are lower cost than gas and steam.
• It is important to choose a meter data software platform that does not constrain growth.
• The cost of expanding an online software platform to other sites is relatively low.
• A modern energy data management system provides more than just numbers and trends. It also provides customisable reports, flags abnormal usage directly to relevant staff, provides insight into energy usage performance under different production conditions (e.g. short versus long production runs, and part load versus full load), aggregates data, performs shadow billing, identifies missing/corrupt data, and provides advanced data visualisation, such as Sankey diagrams
  and heatmaps.
• Different stakeholder groups have different information needs. Full value is obtained only if the system can be customised to provide insights in a format that suits a range of stakeholder groups; ranging from plant operators to the Board of Directors.
• This project is considered an important element of a robust and productive sustainability program for Bulla.
• Pipework modifications were needed in some areas to optimise the measuring data accuracy by installing meters at a proper location.
  

Next steps
1. Use the system to identify and realise saving opportunities, which in turn will help Bulla meet its
energy and greenhouse targets under the Australian Dairy Industry Sustainability Framework.
2. Expanding the software to other sites.
3. Progressively invest in more meters to cover all of Bulla’s sites, with a focus on energy intense processes and loads.

For more information contact: c.morgan@northmoregordon.com

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About Molycop

Molycop is the largest and most experienced manufacturer and supplier of grinding media to mining operations worldwide. Molycop is striving for greater sustainability through superior resource efficiency and defining a new standard of environmental performance.

How we helped

Since 2006, the Northmore Gordon Newcastle team has helped Molycop achieve annual energy cost savings and maximise their return on investment in energy projects through:

• Energy management strategy
• Energy audits
• Project development support
• Grants and funding options
• Energy and carbon reporting
• Energy and carbon certificates

The Challenge

Molycop is the largest and most experienced manufacturer and supplier of grinding media to mining operations worldwide. Whilst energy has always been important, and compliance with regulation critical, the Waratah site has since expanded its focus to form a long-term goal of decarbonisation through an end-toend energy strategy.

With over 20 years of experience and extensive knowledge in the steel sector, Northmore Gordon was selected to help Molycop develop their comprehensive portfolio of energy projects. Northmore Gordon consultants worked closely with the client’s energy and operations teams to investigate their processes and identify opportunities for improving efficiency. More recently, Northmore Gordon’s Energy and Carbon experts have been assisting Molycop to plan towards a low carbon emissions steel-making process.

The Process

Northmore Gordon adopted a systematic approach to identifying and prioritising energy and carbon management opportunities. This included investigating capital projects, low cost process improvements, government funding and revenue from energy and carbon certificates.

Our Energy and Carbon Consultants helped Molycop access over one million dollars worth of revenue through the NSW government’s Energy Saving Scheme and capital grants. Northmore Gordon also assisted Molycop in their purchasing of renewable energy through a corporate Power Purchase Agreement.

Some projects that have been implemented include:

• Installing Variable Speed Drives on large fans and pumps, including high voltage motors
• Modifying controls on fume extraction and cooling systems
• Improving yield
• Improving furnace controls
• Reducing pilot flame gas consumption
• Upgrade bag house
• Improving furnace heat recovery system
• Installing heat recovery on ladle preheating equipment
• Cooling tower upgrades

Outcome

Through Northmore Gordon’s multi-disciplinary approach, Molycop’s energy savings has grown to over $1.5M per annum. The consequential reduction in Greenhouse gas emissions has resulted in 15K tonnes of corresponding carbon emissions abatement each year. This has resulted in over $12M in energy costs and certificate revenue over the course of the project.

Do you need help developing a decarbonisation strategy? Contact: c.morgan@northmoregordon.com

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“Northmore Gordon worked closely with us over eight months to achieve funding from the VEU Program. They ensured the complex requirements of the program were met with full compliance and in accord with the satisfaction of the regulator; importantly this also maximised the certificate value on a VEEC volatile market.”

– Michael Roberts, National DC Faclities Manager

The Client
5G Networks is a licensed telecommunications carrier operating across Australia. Our mission is to be the partner of choice for unifying a seamless digital experience for our customers across data connectivity, cloud and data centre services, all underpinned by our expert managed services. 5GN Networks owns and operates data centres in a number of locations including Sydney, North Sydney and Melbourne where they securely host customer servers and data.

Our Role
Northmore Gordon worked through all the complexities of the Victorian Energy Upgrade Program to maximise the financial incentives. Northmore Gordon worked tirelessly to ensure all the regulators requirements and queries were satisfied. This included created the measurement & verification (M&V) plan, collected site data and supporting evidence, and built the baseline and operating energy models to calculate the energy savings. Northmore Gordon also provided us with price certainty to ensure the customer received the payment they had forecast.

Challenges
• Competitive pressures to provide high quality service whilst minimising underlying costs
• Energy bills represent a substantial cost to data centre operators
• Aging equipment could impact reliability

Key Facts

Certificate Value: ~$85,000, Payback: ~ 4 Years
Equipment Upgraded: UPS, BMS, Aisle Partitioning
Annual Savings: Energy: 310 MWh, Carbon Abatement: 335 tCO2e
OPEX: ~$50,000
Project Value: CAPEX: ~ $300,000
Program: Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU)
Method: Project Based Activities (PBA)

Additional Benefits
• Better equipment UPS reliability
• Better computer equipment operating conditions
• Faulty and inefficient auxillary equipment (pumps) identified during the measurement and verification approach

The Project
To stay competitive in the market 5G Networks concluded that energy efficiency upgrades were required at their recently acquired Melbourne Data Centre. The upgrades included the installation of two new high efficiency Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS), a new Building Management System (BMS), and temperature set point and chiller optimisation. In addition, a hot aisle / cold aisle approach was implemented to optimise airflow and cooling of the equipment.

For more information contact: c.morgan@northmoregordon.com

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In a nutshell, the energy savings equation is the following:

Energy Savings = Baseline Energy Use – Post-retrofit Energy Use +/- Adjustments

Under a well-structured M&V process, the conditions before and after ECM implementation are well understood and documented to ensure reliable comparisons that incorporate factors with significant influence on energy consumption.

Establishing a Baseline

The baseline represents the energy usage prior to ECM implementation and is compared against the post-retrofit energy usage to determine savings. To follow M&V best practices, the baseline period should cover a complete operational cycle— from minimum energy demand and consumption to the maximum— that immediately precedes the commissioning of the new ECM.

The length of the baseline period depends on the scope of the ECM project and the purpose of M&V reporting. Under the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP), M&V options range from an isolated equipment retrofit to integrated whole facility energy processes. Therefore, the various M&V options have different measurement boundaries to address the scope of the specific project. It is important that the baseline period be an appropriate timeframe to incorporate all of the significant factors that influence the M&V measurement boundary. For instance, whole facility energy consumption can be heavily influenced by weather, necessitating a baseline period of an entire year. On the other hand, a lighting retrofit that is more so dependent on hours of operation may only require a baseline period of a couple of weeks to capture all the parameters affecting its measurement boundary.

It is vitally important to document the baseline period conditions because they will likely differ from those during the reporting period that follows ECM installation. The collected data should encompass information on equipment impacted by the ECM as well as the independent variables and static factors involved in the M&V process. This should include specs on equipment and operational procedures as well as factors like ambient temperature and production volume. Documenting these baseline conditions enables reliable comparisons between baseline and reporting periods, and highlights areas where adjustments may need to be included in energy savings calculations.

Incorporating Adjustments

Including adjustments in the energy savings calculation ensures consistency between the baseline period and the reporting period that follows ECM installation. Adjustments are divided into two categories: routine and non-routine adjustments.

Routine adjustments are factors impacting the measurement boundary that is expected to change routinely during the reporting period. To be included in the energy savings calculation, the factor should have a significant impact on energy consumption. Example factors include weather and production volume and should be evaluated to determine their influence on energy demand over the reporting period.

Non-routine adjustments involve factors expected to stay static. This includes adjustments such as facility size or building occupancy. When such changes occur, their statistical significance needs to be assessed to determine whether or not to include the factor in the energy savings calculation.

Calculating Savings

Energy savings can be classified into a couple of categories depending on the impact and incorporation of adjustments. The first category is Avoided Energy Consumption, evaluated as the savings in energy consumption compared to what would have been had the ECM not been implemented. For this approach, it is most common to make regular adjustments to the baseline period to reflect conditions throughout the reporting period. This is known as forecasting. Less common is to employ backcasting, where the reporting period is adjusted to mirror baseline conditions.

The second category is Normalized Energy Savings. This strategy utilizes standardized conditions other than those from the baseline or reporting periods as the basis for adjustment. This involves regular adjustment to both the baseline and reporting periods to an agreed-upon condition set, such as a typical meteorological year for weather data.

M&V Is Critical To Evaluate Savings

With all of the factors and variables involved in energy usage, it is pivotal that businesses incorporate a strong M&V process to accurately determine savings from their energy efficiency initiatives. A verified M&V process will require that a facility undergo thorough documentation of conditions before and after project installation in order to calculate accurate, reliable energy savings.

With each M&V process tailored to a specified project, businesses often feel more confident in their approach with the support of an expert. Northmore Gordon and our credentialed M&V team members are available to assess your energy needs and assist in the development and implementation of an effective M&V process.

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