Client
GELSENWASSER AG
Scope
Implementation of Spacewell Energy’s software in Gelsenwasser’s main offices, with the possibility of rolling out a larger plan after the pilot.
Energy Management for Utilities
Utilities across the globe supply thousands of users with electricity, gas and water for their daily activities. At work, while traveling or at home, all of us benefit from the existing infrastructure that brings the supplies directly to us.
Thanks to years of innovation, development and deployment of networks, access to quick and reliable energy supplies is a general expectation by most of the population. If you work in the industry, you definitely know. However, there is a constant challenge for you: the work done behind the scenes to ensure a seamless supply of energy is massive. To ensure optimum function and effectiveness, introduce new technologies and keep up with regulations and trends.
In this article you will see the real example of the German utility Gelsenwasser, who saves energy thanks to our Energy Platform. And we briefly cover energy management for utilities, your challenges and some opportunities to get closer to your clients.
Reducing Energy: The case of German Utility Gelsenwasser
GELSENWASSER AG specializes in sustainable infrastructure and public supply infrastructure. They provide water and electricity to customers throughout Germany and have a strong focus on sustainability, mainly on environmental protection and resource conservation.
With a workforce of 1,500 people, Gelsenwasser had been managing their energy consumption for years, gathering data and analyzing their consumptions. However, they wanted a stronger tool to centralize those activities and help them be even more efficient. They tested their own solution but eventually decided to see what the market had to offer. And it was through our German partner Crem Solutions that they decided to try Spacewell Energy.
This project was aimed at Gelsenwasser’s main facilities, to explore all the capabilities of the Spacewell Energy Platform. This is in line with their goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2035 and be more efficient in their use of energy. Once the project started, the value was so clear that it opened the door for their customers to benefit from the tool as well.
GELSENWASSER AG also offers a wide range of supply-related services, some via subsidiaries. A large part of the company’s “blue-green team” works at its headquarters in Gelsenkirchen and the wide range of services and collaboration formats are managed from here, both for supply networks and/or plants and their operation. In addition to energy supply, Gelsenwasser also supports its customers as a competitive metering point operator, providing infrastructure services to efficiently manage and further develop systems and grids.
The Energy Challenge
After GELSENWASSER AG had been using energy data management (EDM) software for its own buildings for around ten years to produce detailed information on consumption, the company wanted to refine and expand its digital energy management options.
Gelsenwasser worked with various providers of EDM solutions during ten years. However, the solutions available on the market were designed primarily for grid operators and industry and less for customers and public authorities. Consequently, Gelsenwasser started out with software that offered a wide range of functions for grid and metering point operators, but which nevertheless had few functions for saving energy.
The company developed its own software to merge the diverse data from market communication for electricity and gas with the LoRaWAN metering data collected for water and heat. The idea was to create a comprehensive energy consumption management system, something which was not available on the market at the time. However, this software proved inadequate for the ambitious goal of gathering comprehensive data on consumption.
After completing the project, GELSENWASSER AG carried out more market research and ended up with CREM Solutions and Spacewell Energy and found the software solution that it needed.
The Energy Solution
With the aim of optimizing energy efficiency in the buildings it uses itself, particularly at its main site in Gelsenkirchen, and of becoming carbon neutral by 2035, Gelsenwasser decided to use Spacewell’s AI-powered energy management software. The goal of becoming carbon neutral can only be achieved with a good overview of your own consumption points and generation plants. Energy offers all the options for recording and analyzing consumption data and CO2 emissions. Any anomalies and deviations are quickly identified, meaning that measures can be taken immediately to sustainably optimize consumption.
Spacewell Energy’s AI Tools to Optimize Energy Consumption
Benchmarking: Gelsenwasser has extensively used benchmarking and anomaly detection tools within Spacewell Energy. It identified which buildings in the portfolio have the greatest potential for savings and which technologies or energy-saving measures can be used for optimization. Gelsenwasser can understand which buildings are inefficient, how investment in resources can be optimized to save energy and how energy performance can be improved.
Anomaly Detection: The anomaly detection tool uses artificial intelligence to detect any anomalous consumption and performance and calculates the energy impact and costs of each anomaly. The results are validated using both simulated and real consumption data. Extensive configuration options enable users to adjust the sensitivity of the models, to focus on significant anomalies and to customize the AI models.
The software can be connected to any number of different consumption meters or data sources and offers a variety of interfaces so that data can be transmitted quickly. This enabled Gelsenwasser to integrate it into its own systems to achieve the scalable, fully-automated collection of real-time data on electricity, water and gas consumption in its buildings in use. For example, the photovoltaic systems installed on the roofs of Gelsenwasser’s buildings are also connected to the system and can be read using grid reference data, which can be exported from Energy.
General consumption analyses were already possible before Spacewell Energy was implemented but they were never so simple and efficient. Using various customizable dashboards, the energy management team at Gelsenwasser AG can quickly gain an overview of the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of individual buildings or even individual data points. Any abnormal consumption is detected and automatically triggers an alert and informs the team. This helps Gelsenwasser AG to quickly identify potential savings and take efficient savings measures.
Thanks to its wide range of data collection and analysis functions, the Energy solution enables Gelsenwasser AG to gain a deeper and more detailed insight into all load profile data without having to invest an inordinate amount of time. By using the Energy software, the goals to become carbon neutral by 2035 and achieve a generally more sustainable energy management system within the company can be pursued more optimally. Should the Energy analysis functions reveal that not enough savings are being achieved to reach its targets, Gelsenwasser can take countermeasures quickly and efficiently thanks to the up-to-date data provided..
