Four Foundries Adopt Electricity Demand-Control Program

Powerit Solutions reports it has added four new metalcasting operations to its customer list. The Seattle company provides an electrical energy-management program that allows manufacturers like foundries to increase efficiency, cut peak-rate usage, participate in demand-response programs, and take advantage of real-time pricing. It emphasizes that all this is done without compromising quality or production volumes.

The new Powerit customers are the Atlas Foundry in Marion, IN; the Grede Holdings LLC foundry in New Castle, IN; Griffin Wheel in Kansas City, KS; and Prospect Foundry in Minneapolis.

Powerit explains that all the new customers are using its demand control capability to control energy usage. It estimates that the four foundries will save a total of $400,000 in electrical costs annually. “Controlling energy costs is increasingly an important competitive measure for foundries, and Powerit has unbeatable industry-specific knowledge in this sector,” stated Bob Zak, Powerit Solutions North America’s general manager and president. “We’re pleased to help improve their bottom line.”

“Demand control” is one of four ways that Powerit’s Spara energy-management system allows almost all industrial facilities to use melting furnace energy more efficiently by managing peaks and valleys of demand over a 24-hour period. Spara is an integrated hardware and software product that safely rotates demand reductions through a collection of loads to achieve the desired kilowatt reduction while emphasizing productivity.

One of the four new customers, Griffin Wheel, plans to manage energy demand on dust and fume collectors, air compressors, and A/C units, as well as on its melting furnace.

Powerit states that in addition to reducing energy costs its new foundry customers will achieve ROIs in 4.5 to 16 months. Prospect Foundry and Atlas Foundry received grants from the State of Indiana to implement the Spara system, and Atlas Foundry will take advantage of Spara’s demand-response capabilities to participate in demand response programs when they become available locally.