South Platte Renew receive Xcel Energy Process Efficiency Award
On April 3, 2018 South Platte Renew (SPR) received the Xcel Energy Process Efficiency Award at Xcel’s annual Energy Efficiency Expo. This award was given to the facility for its energy saving efforts during 2017. Through optimized pumping and operational improvements over two million kilowatt hours of electricity were saved. This resulted in greenhouse gas reductions equivalent to more than 370 cars being removed from the road. The plant also saved money by reducing its energy use.
Large amounts of energy are required at South Platte Renew facility. This energy is used to power equipment in the water renewal process to clean the water before it is returned to the South Platte River. Finding ways to reduce the energy consumption is important for our rate payers as well as the environment.
The SPR has been actively engaged in the Xcel Energy’s Process Efficiency Program since 2010, when we developed our first energy plan. The plan included a list of projects and identified key areas for operational improvement in energy intensive processes that consume 77% of the total site energy. The remaining 23% is used for support systems like lighting and HVAC.
Over the years, we have been incrementally testing and making process improvements without compromising critical operational parameters. The total energy reduction in 2017 as a result of these initiatives was 2,332,242 kwh. This reduction saved the rate payers $163,257, and was achieved with minimal capital investment (<3 month overall payback).
Staff members (L-R) Anna Schroeder, Ben Wise, Shahid Malik, and Greg Farmer stand next to Xcel representative Michelle Beaudoin to receive the Process Efficiency Award for the SPR.
