Case Studies

Proving a Case for Effective Energy Management, Monitoring & Control

Energy Savings in Action

Client

Shopping mall developer in Asia

Industry

Retail

Client Profile

One of the largest listed shopping mall developers with

owners and managers in Asia.

With a PAN Asian portfolio of shopping malls across 50

cities in the 5 countries of Singapore, China, Malaysia,

Japan and India.

Scope

The project involved the replacement of existing meters

and the implimentation of a remote monitoring solution —

producing comprehensive data used for accurate billing.

Spaning regionally across multiple malls in the company's

portfolio, various deployments were completed in

Singapore and Malaysia, and with more in the pipeline.

Benefits of NEC Solution

Starlight™ Power Meters are easy to install and compliant with

major international accuracy and safety standards.

One of the main benefits of deploying this solution is the minimal

requirement of additional data cabling and invasive works. The

system can be set up rapidly at every site with minimal disruption

of day-to-day operations.

Another benefit of this solution was the minimisation of data error,

reducing the financial loss from bad debt and the achievement of

monthly manpower savings through automated meter reading (AMR).

Challenges

The existing metering infrastructure was mechanical — with older

generation analog and digital meters which were incapable of

transmitting data externally.

The location of these tenant meters was not easily accessible, and

non-conducive conditions made it challenging to perform accurate

reading. Errors were regularly reported in cases of incorrect data

keyed into the system by hand — which would require further

manual data verification and correction.

The Response

Starlight™ Power Meters were installed to replace the existing

meters. Coupled with Starlight™ communicators, periodic data

is collected from meters and consolidated on a server running

Starlight™ Energy Management System.

The software not only collects and analyses the data but feeds it

into their financial system for automated tenant billing. An online

portal where tenants can access secured reports and analysis of

their consumption history, profile and balance is also provided.

Retail

NEC Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.www.nec.com.sg

Client

A leading player in the liberalised Singapore

electricity Market

Industry

Utility / Power Generation

Client Profile

A leading utility company with generation facilities with

a electricity retailing arm providing energy supply to the

contestable market – malls, hotels and office buildings.

Scope

With a desired outcome of increasing their value add to

end consumers beyond just electricity supply, a portal was

provisioned to allow checking of energy consumption and

profile in almost real time allowing for timelier analysis to

enhance the business decision cycle.

Challenges

Existing meters are read on a monthly basis with no historical

profiling and only a monthly energy consumption reading. End

consumers are unable to analyse their energy consumption trend

for exploring ways to reduce energy intensity.

The NEC Approach

NEC was appointed to implement 2,000 smart meters to monitor

the energy consumption. A wired and wireless hybrid model was

adopted to link up the meters within buildings. Energy usage

statistics from all meters from multiple buildings are transmitted via

3G network to a central server every 30 minutes, where Starlight™

MDMS (Meter Data Management System) was implemented.

This system provided powerful validation and data management

capabilities — interfacing with a SAP billing system for automated

invoice generation.

From their internet browsers, end consumers are able to login in to

a portal to analyse their energy profile, consumption and perform

simple analysis.

Benefits of NEC Solution

Eliminate Estimation and Increased Accuracy — reading is

up to last period (e.g. 30 mins)

Reduce Resources — eradicate needs for meter readers and

escorts to secured areas

Timely Alerts — alerts via email for over consumption, over

and under voltage or current, abnormal readings

Reports — can be downloaded in excel format for further

offline analysis

Distribution Board Switch Room

Tenants

3G/Internet from Customer Building

to Utility Company Central Server

CentralServer

Utility Company

Starlight™ EnergyManagement analysisand trending reports

Client

A leading mobile telecommunications company in

Malaysia

Industry

Telecommunications

Client Profile

A top tier telecommunications service provider in Malaysia

managing over 7,000 base transceiver station (BTS) sites

and more than 20 telecom exchanges.

Scope

NEC scope of work was to demonstrate energy monitoring

in BTS sites and exchanges. Also, NEC had to show energy

OPEX savings of 15-30%.

Customer Challenges

The client spends a significant sum annually on energy costs to run

the BTS sites and exchanges, and lacks visibility on the breakdown

of energy use in these premises. They require an energy

managing system that can help them to keep track of their energy

consumption, while proactively optimising equipment performance

through control.

The NEC Approach

NEC identified the control of the air conditioning system as a main

strategy in deriving savings. We deployed arrays of temperature

sensors to capture the temperature profile within the BTS sites.

The NEC Energy Management & Control (EMC) solution installed at

the sites received feedback from the sensors and optimised the air

conditioning operation based on NEC's patented algorithm, while

maintaining appropriate operating temperatures. The result was a

reduction in air conditioning operating costs by up to 40%.

In the telecom exchange, the EMC software suggested that the

existing air conditioning operating temperature was considerably

lower than the optimal set point. Adjusting the temperature

set point generated about 20% savings without compromising

equipment performance.

The main incoming data for air conditioning energy consumption

were monitored by Starlight™ Power Meters. The client is able

to access an energy management dashboard to track energy

consumption patterns for each site up to per-minute levels and

generate charts and reports for further analysis.

Benefits of NEC Solution

Energy Management of multiple sites from a central location

Energy Optimisation and Savings through control of cooling

equipment

Telecoms

Air conditioning operation with EMC control (40% energy savings)

Air conditioning operation without EMC control

25

20

Tem

per

atur

e [°

C]

0 2 4 6 8 10

A range of sensors are

deployed in order to

accurately record the incoming

A/C for air conditioning units in

each of the BTS sites.

In the case of the EMC

controlled A/C operation,

as seen in the lower graph,

the EMC economically

achieves temperatures which

are consistently within the

optimum range — leading

to a significant reduction in

energy usage and an increase

in savings.

25

20

0 2 4 6 8 10

Tem

per

atur

e [°

C]

©2013 NEC and NEC logo are trademarks of NEC Corporation.

SingaporeNEC Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.(APAC Regional Headquarters)www.nec.com.sg

Australia

NEC Australia Pty Ltd.

au.nec.com

India

NEC India Pvt. Ltd.

in.nec.com

Indonesia

PT. NEC Indonesia

id.nec.com

Malaysia

NEC Corporation of Malaysia Sdn. Bhd

my.nec.com

New Zealand

NEC New Zealand Ltd.

nz.nec.com

Phillippines

NEC Phillippines, Inc.

ph.nec.com

Thailand

NEC Corporation (Thailand) Ltd.

th.nec.com

Vietnam

NEC Solutions Vietnam Co., Ltd.

vn.nec.com

Client

Integrated Commercial Building Complex

Industry

Commercial

Client Profile

An integrated development comprising of a shopping

centre, two hotels, convention centre and entertainment

complex.

As a prime retail mall spread over four floors, including

basement level — the mall is anchored by a department

store, supermarket and 180 F&B outlets and retail stores.

Scope

The scope of work included monitoring the consumption of

Low Tension Switch Rooms and HT Chiller Systems.

Challenges

One of the major challenges the customer was facing was rising

energy costs over a period of 10 yrs which resulted in a large

increase in electricity bills. Also, the age and deterioration of the

equipment was resulting in a much lower operating efficiency.

The Response

A total of 75 Starlight™ Power Meters which were installed to

monitor consumption of Low Tension Switch Rooms and the HT

Chiller Systems. The solution provided real time energy and water

consumption reporting, including both the usage of PUB water and

new water. Other implementations to improve energy efficiency

included solar films on windows, variable speed drives for cooling

systems, LED lightning and the use of motion/photo sensors.

The Starlight solution identified consumption anomalies, line

losses as well as power quality losses which helped the building to

achieve Green Mark Certification within just 2.5 months.

Another major benefit was the integration with a third party solution

which helped to reduce overall implementation costs. The system

was deployed in such a way that additional meters could be also

be deployed without cumbersome wiring installations.

Building

Level 42Meters, End Device

Communicator & 1 Hub Installed

Level 40Installed 1 Repeater Communicator

Level 39Installed 1 Repeater Communicator with

CAT-5e cable running to B1 Hub

Level 20Installed a Hub as Booster

Level 7kWh Pulse Communicators

Installed for HT Chiller

Level 6Meters,

End Device Communicators,Hub & Repeater Installed