UK Grocery Chain Slashes Energy Consumption by 35% with Data Monitoring, Optimisation

Asda, one of the UK’s largest grocery store chains, has slashed energy costs at its refrigeration plants by reducing energy.

Asda has installed software that monitors the performance at refrigeration plants, ultimately reducing plants’ energy consumption by 35 percent since 2010, the company says. Brian Churchyard, senior manager of building model, engineering, energy and innovation with Asda said, “We have made tangible reductions in energy use throughout our chilled depots whilst continuing to run our business as usual with no disruption, and have not decreased our capacity requirements.” The reductions have resulted in reduced operational costs, he adds.

The company worked with Star Refrigeration’s data monitoring business, Star Data Analytics, as well as City Facilities Management. Star’s Ethos software has helped Asda optimise preventative maintenance and energy performance, the company says. Ethos collects data from refrigeration plants in real time and the cloud-based software then compares actual operating performance with a computer model of theoretical performance at the given ambient conditions and operating temperatures. This comparison of actual performance with the “digital twin” highlights any energy gap and enables the team to identify problems and suggest corrective actions to reduce energy usage and meet environmental goals.

The commercial refrigeration system is the biggest energy user within grocery stores, accounting for about 40 percent to 60 percent of electricity consumption, according to the EPA.