Embrace the New Energy Landscape for improved efficiency and sustainability.

Gone are the days when the electrical system of a commercial building was simply required to operate the lights and provide access to power. Now, in modern buildings, the electrical power system is complex, often incorporating features such as local energy generation, electric vehicle charging, energy storage, and connection to the grid.

Coupled with the desire of tenants and building owners to improve their sustainability and energy efficiency, a digital transformation of electrical energy and power management is critical to the delivery of a holistic approach to power optimisation. In short, a smart power distribution system is needed. This is the New Energy Landscape.

EcoStruxure and the New Energy Landscape

Currently, only around 10% of electrical distribution equipment is connected to software¹. To truly optimise and improve the energy system of a commercial building, it is critical to collect energy and power metering data from strategic locations throughout each building’s electrical distribution system — from the service entrance to the final distribution circuits. After all, you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

There are several ways to implement a metering system, but a good rule of thumb is: the more meters a building has and the more advanced those meters are, the more insight and potential savings can be found. Integrated and connected products, such as intelligent sensors, metering, protection, control, and communication devices, distributed across one or more facilities and seamlessly networked together, can help enable this.

Once the data has been collected, an overarching solution can be used to analyse critical data and discover meaningful insights, enabling actions based on real-time information and business logic. EcoStruxure platform is Schneider Electric’s plug-and-play, open, and interoperable IoT-enabled system architecture. It is the foundational technology backbone that connects everything from the shop floor to the top floor to collect and analyse critical data and discover meaningful insights and enable actions based on real-time information and business logic.

Connecting with energy management software

Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert software provides access to real-time data and can send alerts from connected meters, circuit breakers, and other devices so you can keep an eye on the system and ensure it is operating efficiently. The software’s advanced dashboards, energy visualisation, and analysis tools seamlessly integrate so you can easily interpret the findings and make informed decisions. You can also run energy modelling and forecasting to uncover abnormal or wasteful energy usage, allocate costs to evaluate operations and use baseline comparisons to validate savings from upgrades or other initiatives. It can also aggregate collected data across multiple processes or facilities and generate compliance reports that meet ever-changing energy efficiency standards.

For those wanting to proactively manage power management and power distribution systems, EcoStruxure Power Advisor offers remote access, support and on-site maintenance. The software provides data analysis for energy performance reporting, sub-billing, and energy and emissions audits — all crucial components in many modern buildings.

The software can also provide Green Building Certification support by indicating how an EcoStruxure solution can help achieve points toward NABERS certification or other popular rating systems.

For those buildings where net-zero performance or even net-positive energy usage is the goal, Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor offers dynamic control of on-site energy resources and loads. For example, the building may have its own energy source such as solar panels or wind turbines, as well as energy storage and a connection to the grid. In these instances, you might need software that can offer:

• Tariff management — using on-site renewable energy at the most advantageous time, based on variable tariff rates (i.e., self-consuming or selling renewable electricity to the grid when grid prices are high, and consuming or storing grid energy when prices are low).
• Carbon footprint reduction — maximising the self-consumption of on-site renewable energy production to reduce equivalent emissions.
• Peak shaving — consuming renewable energy to avoid demand penalties due to grid energy consumption exceeding a certain level for a given hour.

Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Microgrid Advisor can automatically switch between energy sources, as and when different events are triggered. The software seamlessly connects to the energy resources to automatically forecast and optimise how and when to consume, produce, and store energy.

Achieving sustainability, net-zero and energy efficiency

To help your customers achieve their sustainability and energy efficiency goals, you need to offer a smart power distribution system, integrating energy management software that accurately tracks and analyses their electrical energy usage. By monitoring and managing their assets, you can also help your customers to extend the life of their products and systems, while making their operations safe, efficient and resilient every day.

Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure architecture is a comprehensive solution that helps turn your customer’s climate ambition into action. With the support of experts at Schneider Electric, and through our EcoXpert program, you can audit, design, manage, and maintain energy-efficient commercial buildings, with a customised, cost-effective, turnkey solution.

To understand more about how Schneider Electric can help you take advantage of the New Energy Landscape, download our e-guide today.

_{¹ Global estimates from Schneider Electric Field Services organization in 2020.}