Energy assessment

Services provided

Energy audit and assessment

Benefits achieved

 >£400k cost saving opportunities identified

Summary

Cooper Tires commissioned JRP to conduct an energy assessment of their Melksham factory to gain a better understanding of how energy was being managed and to identify improvement opportunities that would reduce energy consumption, costs and emissions across the site.

The site comprises some 50 buildings having a total floor area of 61,214 m2 with approximately 30% allocated to storage of tyres and raw materials and the remaining site used for the production and building processes. These buildings are a mixture of older buildings constructed in the 1940s and newer constructed buildings from the 1980s.

It was agreed that this high-level energy survey should look at all aspects of energy use to pinpoint areas of wastage.

Approach

JRP Solutions conducted an initial 2-day energy assessment of the Cooper Tires, Melksham site. This was then followed up with a half day visit during the site’s summer shutdown to allow for a comparison of energy consumption between a normal production day and a lockdown period.

Throughout the site visits it became evident that there was a large saving opportunity available by making behavioural changes on site and through the implementation of an ISO 50001 style energy management system (EnMS).

There were significant energy losses identified through steam and compressed air leaks across the site. These partially explained the high baseload observed during weekends and site shutdown periods.

A number of key recommendations were made:

• Implement an ISO 50001 style management system
• Carry out routine compressed air leak tests
• Improve compressor sequencing
• Improve condensate return levels
• Improve shutdown practices
• Improve shutdown practices
• Insulation of steam and HPHW
• Fix steam leaks
• Improve hotwell insulation
• Install localised isolation switches
• Upgrade pumps for river water extraction
• Decommission bike tyre presses

The assessment determined that the greatest and most immediate value would be attained from the implementation of an EnMS and that this approach should be combined with the implementation of medium capex projects to drive reductions in energy consumption.

Results

The Cooper Tires site presented significant opportunities to reduce energy consumption. These ranged from no cost behavioural changes to larger capex projects which require further investigation. The overall energy savings potential identified was >9m kWh, equivalent to >£400k cost saving opportunities, with a simple payback of 6 months.

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