The conference “Sustainable Consumption through Automation, Monitoring and Control” took place at the Continental Hotel in Timisoara with 30 specialists from the region interested in the topic proposed by energynomics.ro. 7 top experts represented the business environment, industry and academia in the fifth edition of the communication campaign “Energy Efficiency for big results”.
At the beginning of the day, the chief editor of energynomics.ro Gabriel Avăcăriței presented some of the ideas transmitted by Bogdan Anton, an expert within the energy efficiency department of ANRE. The involvement of the local public authorities is essential in the quality of the reports that the regulator is obliged to send to the European Commission.
The current data showed that for the year 2018, only 12% of the localities had submitted Energy Efficiency Improvement Programs – PIEE to ANRE. The non-transmission of data by the territorial administrative units (UATs) to ANRE led to distorted results in the reports on energy efficiency at the national level, warned the representative of the authority. Based on this information, ANRE prepared and sent to the Government and the European Commission periodic reports on the achievement of the national efficiency objectives. In Timiș county, only four localities complied (Timișoara, Lugoj, Jimbolia and Săcălaz).
DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF BOGDAN ANTON
Relevant figures from the ANRE reports on energy efficiency appear in the material prepared by Bogdan Anton; the funding opportunities through the Horizon 2020 Program are also presented.
Constantin Ichimoaei, ABB Romania: Imagine a zero emissions city!
ABB was founded more than 130 years ago (through the merger of Asea and Brown Bovery) and has grown as a result of investments in research and development (R&D), said Constantin Ichimoaei, executive manager of ABB Romania. Today, ABB has around 147,000 employees in over 100 countries, a turnover of over 30 billion euros, investing more than 1.5 billion euros in R&D each year. “We have over 7,900 researchers and engineers working on developing innovative solutions. ABB also collaborates with the universities of Romania, making the latest technology available to students”.
DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF CONSTANTIN ICHIMOAEI
In his presentation, Constantin Ichimoaei insisted that, increasingly, “residential and commercial customers become active participants in the energy revolution by optimizing local resources”.
“Imagine a zero-emission city with energy from renewable sources. This is something that is already happening in many cities in Europe and, on a much smaller scale, in Romania – roof-top photovoltaics, charging stations, storage systems, etc. All of this must be controlled and monitored by a suite of computer applications connected to the cloud – such as the ABB Ability platform. A project developed in Romania by ABB and its partners has integrated the whole system, starting from the production of energy, with solar roof panels, fast-chargers in parking facilities and up to consumption – refrigerated crates, lighting, regular consumption; only what is needed for extra consumption is taken from the network.”
”We must look to the future. Among the mega-trends of the future is urbanization; about 70% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. When we talk about digitalization, we are talking about integrating flexible energy production (such as photovoltaic, wind generation) and consumption (e-mobility, chargers for electric cars etc.). According to a study, in 2040 over 55% of cars will be electric”, said Ichimoaei.
Phoenix Contact – Solutions for electric mobility
A German company set up in 1923, with private investors and its own financing, Phoenix Contact manufactures electrical engineering solutions in automation and in connection technology. “The changes in the European mobility Directive require the new parking facilities to have the necessary infrastructure for e-cars charging stations,” Business Development Manager Cătălin Lepinzean recalled.
Phoenix Contact manufactures power station components and makes them available for the integrators to build e-cars infrastructure. Presenting the company’s portfolio, as well as the software package that provides the customer interface, Phoenix Contact’s representative also referred to packets for security in communications and cyber security.
DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF CĂTĂLIN LEPINZEAN
”We have constantly increased the basis of collaboration with integrators which develop their own charging stations and infrastructure. The dynamics of demand growth is very high and we need to consider long-term solutions”, said Catalin Lepinzean.
Technologies for waste to energy
Control Point was established in 2005 and is active in fields such as industrial automation, electrical installations and photovoltaic solutions; the company based in Brasov would like to have more local projects. “Currently, most projects are being carried out outside of Romania. We are Valmet partners for automation solutions. We started with automation solutions, and subsequently developed other solutions, including solutions for the agro-industrial sector. We have a lot of projects in the western part of Europe, we would be happy to have more projects in Romania as well”, says Daniel Bertalan, Control Point representative.
The Control Point group has projects implemented in the thermal and hydro areas, as well as in other segments of the energy market. “For several years we had many projects on biomass and waste to energy. We have implemented projects on everything that means gas turbines, biomass, biogas. On the agribusiness segment we have some projects implemented on silage automation. Last year there was a project in Satu Mare, with Control Point as a subcontractor for electrical installations and automation”.
DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF DANIEL BERTALAN
The company is also present in the waste recovery area, including the production of biogas through anaerobic flow, combustion, plaster production and other processes. ”From a ton of inorganic municipal waste can be obtained about 1,100 KWh electricity, or centralized heating. Ferrous and non-ferrous metals can be recovered from the ash of the combustion process. In England we have a 68 MW project”. He also presented projects of what the company did in respect to using organic waste. “We use 32,000 tons of biomass or organic waste, through which we produce 3.8 million cubic meters of biogas annually or the equivalent of 660 KWh power per ton of waste,” he said.
“In western Europe such plants have been built for many year, either based on incineration, or on composting and anaerobic digestion, and our hope is to see as many projects implemented in Romania as well.”
EximBank – a partner for energy business
“Talking about energy efficiency, it means economic efficiency. All that means environmental protection, recycling – things that are in the DNA of Eximbank”, said Carmen Liptak, Eximbank regional director. “In addition, energy efficiency solutions require CAPEX, they need funding. Such projects can be grown with our help”, said Carmen Liptak, Eximbank.
EximBank, a bank with 100% Romanian capital, has lately accelerated the activity dedicated to the business environment, where it became the first bank in the factoring segment and developed fast financing solutions for SMEs.
DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF CARMEN LIPTAK
”We are trying to find the best solutions adapted to each project. We combine the financing part with other factors, such as trade finance, cash management and financial risk management solutions. We offer loans for financing working capital, for investments and for export. Regarding energy efficiency solutions, we can use loans for investments, both for companies and for local authorities. We are trying, together with the client, to understand the specificity of the activity, which is the most appropriate way of recovering the investment, how we can link the tenure part with the recovery part of the investment”, said Liptak, detailing Eximbank products and services.
“We support all activities related to exports, including overseas expansion, as we have information on the creditworthiness of companies, both in the EU and non-OECD countries,” added the director of Eximbank Timisoara.
Kawasaki campaigns for decentralized heating distribution
The Japanese Kawasaki Group first entered the European market in 1975, and in 2018 opened the Romanian office, which covers the whole of South East Europe. As the countries in the European community move towards renewable energy production and consider less pollutant emissions, equipment using conventional fuels must be as efficient as possible in electricity generation, stressed Cristian Athanasovici, Business Development Manager at Kawasaki Gas Turbine Europe. “Kawasaki has developed low emission solutions, including hydrogen equipment, which is part of our renewable solutions segment.”
A sensitive point in Romania today is the centralized heat supply, Athanasovici continued. “We also have solutions for individual energy consumers, such as university campuses, hotels or airports. All the equipment and solutions we propose must be environmentally friendly – we advocate, according to our motto, for a better planet. We are looking at a decentralized distribution of electricity and we have developed equipment that burns 100% hydrogen”, said Athanasovici, presenting the company’s products. These include gas turbines between 1.7 and 34 MWe, with internal combustion engines – 7.8 MW and 5.2 MW respectively; Kawasaki is the only manufacturer in the world that provides both cogeneration technologies and also provides solutions for chilled water.
DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF CRISTIAN ATHANASOVICI
”As for the services, we cover all the know-how from the pre-feasibility phase to the implementation of the project and subsequently, we provide long-term maintenance contracts. With the help of our partners, we are trying to come up with funding from the Japanese government”, Athanasovici said.
In Romania, Kawasaki has developed many solutions – such as the gas turbine at Chimcomplex, of 7.8 MWe, a project at the AAC plant in Calarasi developed with European funds and another one developed for the central heating sector in Bacău.
Photon Energy – We cover the entire development cycle for solar projects
“We are providers of technology, investments and operations – we cover the whole life cycle, from the beginning to the end,” said Lauru Bădiță, Country Manager O&M Romania. Established in 2008, Photon Energy is headquartered in the Netherlands, and the Prague office, with 90 employees, represents the company in Central and Eastern Europe, including Romania. “We are listed on the Warsaw and Prague stock exchanges and have a very good partnership with the people from Canadian Solar, with whom we develop projects of a significant level – we have almost 1.2 GW in Australia,” said Lauru Bădiță.
Currently, Hungary is particularly attractive due to the fixed tariff it offers. “We hope to develop more projects in Romania. In the maintenance area we focus on customized solutions; we have 10 years experience, and since our parks are already five to six years old, we can prevent in advance any malfunctions that we have met in other countries. We focus on preventive maintenance services, guaranteed rapid intervention services, monitoring, administrative activity and support for security systems.”
DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF LAURU BĂDIȚĂ
Photon Energy has developed a dedicated department for monitoring and control, with which the dispatcher can track all the parks under monitoring: “any error can be seen in real time”. “We have our own software; customers and technicians can view online what happens with the production, for different periods of time. Also, the specialized Inverter Cardio division can repair string inverters in just a few days. We have over 4,000 inverters repaired up to now, from various brands”, said Bădiță.
Eaton: Energy efficiency means cost savings
Cătălin Crivineanu, Partner Account Manager, Power Quality Department, Eaton Electric Romania, started from the forecasts regarding the increase in demand for electricity today, and more and more in the future, “everything is possible due to energy”.
Eaton is a company specializing in energy management, and globally is one of the main manufacturers of industrial and commercial components. “Over time, through acquisitions, Eaton has become a market leader, offering the most complete electric offer, starting from energy distribution systems, to fire, lighting and control systems,” said Crivineanu.
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He presented Eaton’s range of products available for energy efficiency, focusing on frequency converters, UPS systems and energy storage solutions to reduce grid consumption.
Theory and practice for energy efficiency
Prof. Nicolae Muntean, Ph. D., at the University POLITEHNICA Timisoara, the Department of Electrical Engineering, also representative of Tehnoconcept, presented three projects in which he was involved.
Tehnoconcept is an engineering consulting, design and training company. The company is a Siemens partner in the field of electrical engineering and, at the same time, is a complex auditor, certified by ANRE. Technoconcept offers consulting for energy efficiency projects, starting from identifying the technical problem, up to the solutions design and implementation and, finally, by monitoring the results.
One of the projects realized is the increase of the energy efficiency by implementing the variable speed drives at the Azomures Chemical Plant. The project achieves energy savings ranging from 20% to 50%.
DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF NICOLAE MUNTEAN
Another project presented is related to conversion and storage of energy using smart grid technologies. The objectives of the theoretical and experimental study refer to the implementation of the distribution of electricity in DC.
The conference was organized by energynomics.ro with the support of our partners: ABB România, Control Point powered by Valmet, EximBank, Eaton Electric, Kawasaki Gas Turbine Europe GmbH, Phoenix Contact, Photon Energy.
Over 30 people from organizations like ABB Romania, Asociația pentru Managementul Energiei Timiș, Bjorn Heizung, Control Point, Delgaz Grid, E.ON Romania, Eaton Electric, ESAPRO Optimization & Management, ETA2U Innovation, Euro Green Energy, EximBank, Expert Petroleum, Kawasaki Gas Turbine Europe GmbH, Melbo Instal SRL, Phoenix Contact, Photon Energy, Universitatea Politehnica Timișoara, Prime Telecom, Rompetrol, Zoppas Industries Romania have participated at the discussions.
About the campaign
Between February and November 2019 we scheduled seven conferences aimed to highlight the need for and the benefits of implementing energy audits, with examples of actions and technologies for increased energy efficiency.
Each conference features top speakers and themes such as: legislation and regulation in energy efficiency, financing for energy efficiency projects and support for public authorities and SMEs.
Conferences in 2019
- February 26, Iaşi – Energy Efficiency – Present Opportunities – follow-up article
- April 3, Constanța – Energy Efficiency – On-Going Projects and New Ideas – follow-up article
- May, 22, Craiova – Safer Economics through Energy Efficiency – follow-up article
- June 19, Brașov – Energy Efficiency – Sustainable Consumption through Automation, Monitoring and Control – follow-up article
- October 15, Oradea – Energy Efficiency – How to start, Whom to Contact
- November 7, Cluj-Napoca – Energy Efficiency – Verified Approaches, Credible Partners