Food processor reduces power bill

A US-based natural food processor that manufactures tons of rice-based ingredients and products each year has begun using a new on-site power system to reduce its electric bill by an estimated 20 per cent and incorporate the power system's excess heat into its manufacturing process.

Due for completion at the end of this month, the new combined-heat-and-power system at California Natural Products in Lathrop, California, which features technology provided by Encorp, will be more efficient than conventional on-site power systems.

In addition to generating electricity when needed, the system will turn excess engine heat - often considered an unusable by-product of an on-site power system - into a tool that helps process rice and other ingredients in the company's round-the-clock manufacturing process.

Officials at California Natural Products made the decision last year to install the combined-heat-and-power system after learning about a State of California incentive programme that covers nearly a third of total costs for such projects. The company, which employs 250 people, saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in up-front costs through the state incentive programme.

California Natural Products is a 23-year-old company headquartered an hour south of Sacramento that produces a wide range of food ingredients from conventional and organic rice, such as syrups, flours and sweeteners for a variety of uses.

Powered by a 1350kW Deutz natural-gas engine, the combined-heat-and-power system at California Natural Products will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Designed to supplement power from Pacific Gas & Electric and provide back- up power for specific critical loads in the event of a utility brownout or blackout, Encorp expects the system to produce more than 9.4 million kilowatt hours each year - enough electrical energy to power 135,000 100-watt light bulbs for a year.

"This new system should reduce our annual electric bill at least 20 per cent,"​ said Pat Mitchell, CEO of California Natural Products.

A key service Encorp is providing California Natural Products is Encorp's new Energy Management Center, a monitoring, alarming and reporting service that ensures gensets, engines and other distributed energy assets used for standby, peak shaving or co-generation applications run at peak efficiency.

Encorp's Energy Management Center is an automated service that communicates with all intelligent genset devices to collect data, provide alarm notification and deliver critical power analysis for optimal decision-making.

Using nearly any form of connectivity - from a simple phone line to a T1 line - the Energy Management Center immediately alerts operators via e-mail, pager or text message if a problem arises with an on-site power system or when regular maintenance is scheduled. The Energy Management Center even offers limited predictive-maintenance capabilities to increase reliability and reduce downtime.

The company also provided its digital paralleling switchgear that features Encorp's state-of-the-art Generator Power Control and Utility Power Control, and communication gateway and software servers for local and remote connectivity for the project.

Encorp​, headquartered in Colorado, US, is an energy solution and technology company that offers distributed-generation services and products that address key power-related issues for companies worldwide: energy management, quality and reliability.