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measurement sensors installed across the site
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Individual machines monitored for energy consumption
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energy efficiency projects identified
eEnergy and UK Biocentre
UK Biocentre has played an instrumental role in the fight against COVID19. With growing testing requirements, the company needed to understand how to make the existing testing process more energy efficient. Our Energy Services team installed energy measurement technology across 26 different machines to capture machine level data that led to the identification of three energy efficiency projects that will significantly reduce the energy used by UK Biocentre.
About UK Biocentre
Established in 2014, by the national institute for Health Research and ran by UK Biocentre. The National Biosample centre provides world-leading sample management and high-capacity bioprocessing. The UK government commissioned the centre to carry out COVID-19 swab testing in March 2020, and at the height of the pandemic was testing tens of thousands of samples a day. As well as supporting the response to the pandemic, the 60,0002ft facility also supports biosample processing and storage for clients in the academic, industrial, and health services.
The challenge
After an initial discussion of how eEnergy could help the UK Biocentre reduce their energy consumption, they reached out with a specific challenge. They wanted to understand the energy consumption and the associated cost of each state of their COVID-19 swab testing process. Following their appointment to test COVID-19 samples, energy consumption at the national biosample centre has risen dramatically. The company wanted detailed understanding of how much energy each machine used and the most efficient machines.
The Challenge also came with a tight deadline. The business needed to collect this information and analyse it quickly as they had expansion plans and wanted to use the insights to inform equipment purchasing decisions.
The solution
Following a demonstration of our energy measurement solution, we were commissioned to install it as quickly as possible. The initial timeline was ten working days; however, due to the urgent need to understand each machine’s energy consumption, we were asked to accelerate this. Our project manager worked with our team of engineers to reconfigure existing projects to create additional resource to help hit the revised deadline without impacting other projects. Our team of engineers worked quickly to install 40 sensors, three communication bridges and one power meter across the site within four days of the initial order. Once the system was installed and commissioned, eEnergy trained UK BioCentre personnel to use the solution to understand the power consumption across the site. Data collected via the installation of our energy measurement solution has been used as the basis of future planning as the business prepares for future growth.
The result
- 40 sensors, three communication bridges and one power meter installed
- Delivered an accelerated project programme on budget
- Comprehensive understanding of the energy use of every machine used in the COVID-19 swabbing test process.
- The energy consumption of 26 individual machines monitored.
- Analysis and recommendations on which machines were the most energy efficient
- 3 energy efficiency projects identified
The data we have gathered, and the flexibility in being able to track power across different areas of the business, has been crucial for future planning.
Michael Willetts, Operations Manager, UK Biocentre
