Winning savings

For the second time in three years Next Control Systems has won a coveted award in the Food Processing Energy Management competition. The latest accolade was given for the company's success in cutting electrical costs by 15% at an ACS&T cold store in Wolverhampton.

For an outlay of £6500, Next delivered an immediate annual saving of £22,000 - a figure which it is anticipated will be repeated in future years.

Next upgraded the software controls of an ammonia-based refrigeration system, taking account of the fact that electricity which powered five compressors and nine evaporators was bought at varying tariffs depending on the time of day.

Controls were changed to run the store at its lowest set point (-24°C) at night when power is cheap and at a higher set point in the daytime when electricity is more expensive.