Strategically placed Micronics Clamp-on Heat Meters monitor actual utility usage at the ExCel Centre in London's redevelopped Docklands.
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The ExCeL Exhibition Centre, London's
newest exhibition venue, comprises over
120 separate lettable zones and 50 franchised
areas. The complex, situated in the
Capital's regenerated Royal Docklands,
was opened in late 2000. ExCeL started as
a 'brown field' Docklands site in 1995 and
employed Energy Control Consultants Ltd
(ECCL) to develop the energy supply strategy
for the site. This was accomplished
using detailed building computer modelling techniques.
ExCeL wished to concentrate
on "core" exhibition business and brokered
a Contract Energy Management deal with
Scottish and Southern Energy to build and operate the venue's Energy Centre to supply electricity,
heat, and chilled water. ECCL also designed and planned ExCeL's Automatic Utilities Auditing strategy
and their sister company, Energy Metering Technology (EMT), won the contract to install the
DATA BIRD based Automatic Utilities Auditing system.
EMT is now retained by ExCeL to manage their Automatic Utilities Auditing and advise on energy
management. This includes the monthly production of "hour by hour" predictions of the electricity,
heat and coolth demands for a rolling 2 year period utilising the original building computer simulation
model. This is done by feeding into the building computer model, the latest "tenancy planner" which
is supplied electronically by ExCeL's Marketing Department. The demands predicted by the model
represent "theoretically perfect" management of consumption and peak demands by the 120 lettable
zones and 50 franchised areas.
Strategically placed meters to monitor actual utility usage, supply actual consumption data via DATA
BIRD and, using DYNAMAT software automatically audits the actual consumption against the model
predictions. This immediately highlights anomalies and pinpoints where problems have occurred that
may require remedial action.
Scottish and Southern, who own and operate the plant, also receive EMT's "hour by hour" energy
prediction enabling them to plan plant availability and organise maintenance during less sensitive
times. Through the DYNAMAT software "shadow bills" are also created for contract energy supply.
These are used by ExCeL for comparison purposes against Scottish and Southern's actual monthly
bill.
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The Micronics U2000 series -
Clamp-On, Non-Invasive and Cost Effective
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The automatic utilities auditing regime relies on accurate energy metering. To measure export heat
and coolth from the Energy Centre, EMT recommended to Capita, the detailed design consultants
for Scottish and Southern, that they use Micronics Ultraflo 2000 heat meters.Capita realised that the Ultraflo 2000, "clamp-on" heat meter system offered a cost effective solution
to the problem of monitoring the main heat and coolth Energy Centre export pipes.
Installation
costs were minimal as the units are strapped to the outside of the pipes, making the Ultraflo 2000
extremely cost effective for large pipe applications and high-pressure systems. Any future failure
would not require the draining and opening up of the pipes for repair or replacement making future
maintenance both easy and much less costly. Generally the capital cost, including installation, is considerably
less than an in-line heat meter for pipes above 150 mm diameter.
Because the Ultraflo
2000 is clamped on to the outside of the pipe, it has no affect on circuit resistance and therefore
produces substantial energy savings over the lifetime of the installation. The overall lifetime cost of
the meters suggested that they were the ideal instruments for the job. EMT has installed many
Ultraflo 2000 meters and continues to recommend their use where they are cost effective. EMT’s
sister company ECCL were perhaps the first company in the UK to use clamp-on portable meters
for energy audits and energy conservation work and, as in this application, they continue to use the
Micronics PORTAFLOWTM MKII and PORTAFLOW 300 to determine heat and flow loads for all
types of design and monitoring purposes.
