Load profile analysis for reducing energy demands of production systems in non-production times

Intensifying market pressure, extended environmental legislations, increasing environmental consciousness and rising energy prices are a major concern for production companies worldwide. Production of goods is responsible for about one-third of the global greenhouse gas emissions. As a consequence the energy demand in production and with this the energy costs for the production of a product are moving more into focus of decision makers. Depending on the shift and working system of a company, the energy demand during planned non-production times like free shifts, weekends or holidays can be significant. However, a lack of knowledge about realistically achievable electrical load levels in non-production times due to missing benchmarks can be observed in practice. As a consequence, related energy saving potentials remain undetected. Against this background, this paper presents a methodology to analyze the electrical load during non-production times using load duration curves. Performance indicators are developed allowing for a comparison between factories in order to identify energy saving potentials. Within this paper a tool is developed to easily compare different automotive factories and tested using real data of two large car manufacturers.