Industrial energy management is software that builds a digital simulation of a factory's or a building's energy use, meters its water, and shows where to cut. Factories and large buildings spend a lot on electricity and water, and a large part is wasted without anyone noticing.
The software works in three steps. First, meters and sensors measure the electricity, compressed air, steam and water used by each machine or area. These readings arrive through an industrial IoT platform. Second, the software builds a model of how the plant uses energy. This model is related to a plant digital twin, a digital copy of the plant. Third, the software compares the model with what the meters show, and points out where use is higher than it needs to be.
Consider a food factory near Hosur. The software shows that a compressor, which makes compressed air, still draws 40 kilowatts at night, when the production line is switched off. A leak in the air pipes is the cause. Eight hours a night over 300 nights is 96,000 units of electricity. At ₹8 a unit, that is about ₹7.7 lakh a year. The fix costs a few thousand rupees.
Without the software, the factory sees only one electricity bill for the month. The bill cannot say which machine used what, so nobody finds the leak. In India the savings also matter for a legal reason. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency sets energy-saving targets for large energy-hungry industries under a scheme called Perform, Achieve and Trade. A plant that does better than its target can sell the extra saving as certificates. India is now moving many of these industries to its new carbon market. There, the target is the greenhouse gas released for each tonne of product. Water is metered for a similar reason, because many Indian plants buy tanker water or draw groundwater that is limited by their permits.
For buildings, the software works with the building automation system and the HVAC chillers that cool the building. Some chemicals used in water treatment come from speciality chemicals suppliers, who also monitor how much of them a plant uses. The energy figures go to carbon accounting software, because every unit of electricity bought is counted in Scope 2. Many suppliers are paid from a share of the saving, so the factory pays little at the start. See also industrial IoT and sustainability management.