Freedom with advanced power monitoring
Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric PowerLogic systems are helping whisky producer William Grant & Sons Distillers Ltd to win an 80% rebate on its Climate Change Levy (CCL) energy bill.

Freedom with advanced power monitoring
pixel

William Grant & Sons Distillers Ltd, maker of the world famous Glenfiddich® Single Malt Scotch Whisky, was encouraged to review its energy costs at its Girvan site, where Grants® Family Reserve Scotch Whisky is manufactured. When faced with impending higher energy bills arising from the CCL, Colin Martin, Project Engineer for William Grant & Sons Distillers Ltd, said: "The CCL provided the impetus to look at our energy use throughout the distillery and what scope we had for improvement." The company identified three areas for investigation: the energyintensive grain whisky and grain neutral spirit production facilities, and miscellaneous facilities such as offices and storage areas. "We particularly needed to identify the proportion of energy used in the energy-intensive areas as opposed to the miscellaneous use," says Colin. "We have signed up to a discount scheme whereby we get back 80% of the extra energy costs arising from the CCL, but to do this, we must prove that our non-intensive loads make up less than 10% of the overall consumption."

The monitoring system, designed and installed by Schneider Electric, is based on 32 PowerLogic PM620 power meters. These transmit data via Modbus RS485 and Ethernet Gateways to a central PC with SMS1500 software. The software performs calculations on the data to produce information on energy use throughout the plant, much more quickly and accurately than manual methods could. Reports are produced in HTML format so that William Grant & Sons Distillers Ltd employees connected to the company’s Local Area Network can view the energy consumption of specific areas of the distillery, helping them to achieve their reduction targets. Colin says: "We are now much more informed than before about energy use and much more aware of the effects of particular actions. For example, leaving a chiller on is an extra load on the system, approximately a quarter of demand. Information from the PowerLogic system provides a way of bringing effects like this to the attention of energy users in the plant and helps us change the culture so that things like monitors and computers are not left on unnecessarily."

William Grant & Sons Distillers Ltd Operate at 3 sites across Scotland and employ approximately 550 people. They produce world famous Scotch whisky brands, including Glenfiddich®, the world’s best selling single malt Scotch whisky, and Grant’s® Family Reserve, the 4th best selling Scotch whisky in the world. The Company is still owned by the descendants of William Grant who founded the business in 1887.