ESB Smart Energy Services

Michael Mahon, head of ESB’s Smart Energy Services, is acutely aware that any savings in energy costs for large businesses can make a real difference to a company’s balance sheet. “Energy is one of the most significant costs faced by business and we’ve seen that even small savings can yield healthy bottom line benefits.”

Mahon says that Smart Energy Services, a business unit of ESB, will deliver €150 million in savings on energy costs for over 300 large businesses in Ireland and the UK by 2020. It has already saved €55 million for 200 Irish and UK companies, since it was set up 18 months ago.

ESB’s Smart Energy Services offers a multi-pronged approach to energy saving - providing consultancy services, capital funding, energy management services and project delivery for large business energy users, which typically spend over €200,000 on energy each year. “We work with our clients to design and develop energy projects suitable to their business and we then provide the engineers, project managers and financing that will deliver the savings for them,” added Mahon. “Our energy services team also have the opportunity to draw on the depth and breadth of expertise across the ESB group.”

In general, ESB’s Smart Energy Services aims to deliver energy savings of about 60 per cent for clients and several household names have made impressive savings by partnering with ESB. such as BWG Foods, Tesco, Ardagh Group, Dublin Airport Authority and the CHQ building.

Grocery wholesale and retail operator BWG partnered with ESB to install energy-efficient lighting retrofits across its network of Spar, EUROSPAR, Mace, Londis and XL retail stores throughout Ireland. This resulted in a 50-60 per cent reduction in lighting energy costs across all stores, with energy consumption reduced by 2.8 GWH per year. On top of this, lighting quality was improved and carbon emissions reducing by 1,400 tonnes per year.

Packaging company, Ardagh Group, needed a very different solution. As a company committed to environmental responsibility and sustainable manufacturing processes, the Ardagh Group needed a partner that understood its mandate for a low-carbon future and was capable of delivering a project at scale. Smart Energy Services provided an integrated battery and worked with partners Grid Beyond to deliver a grid platform solution at Ardagh’s Scottish plant. This means that energy usage can switch smoothly between the battery and the national grid, depending on energy demands. The benefits were clear with increased resilience and security of energy supply.

A Tesla battery was installed in Ardagh to efficiently store energy during periods of lower demand at the plant and to support demand during intermittent power dips. The battery reduces the plant’s reliance on the grid and provides a reliable supply of green energy, supporting Ardagh’s sustainability agenda This battery storage project is also a UK-first in the manufacturing industry.

In a nutshell, ESB’s Smart Energy Services provides consultancy, finance design solutions as well as project delivery and energy management services. And no other energy provider in Ireland provides such a pro-active, holistic service for large energy users.

Companies who wish to find out more about ESB’s Smart Energy Services should visit the website linkwww.esb.ie/smartenergy