The problem: energy you pay for but cannot see
Most industrial plants pay their electricity bill as a black box — they know how much they spend in total but not exactly on what. Which motor consumes more than it should? Which equipment keeps drawing power outside production hours? At what time of day does the demand peak that drives up the tariff occur?
Without monitoring per circuit or per machine, it is impossible to answer those questions — and therefore impossible to act on them.
The solution: energy monitoring per circuit
Modern industrial energy monitoring installs smart meters in the electrical panels of each area or critical machine. These meters record consumption (kWh), demand (kW), power factor, voltage and current — and send the data in real time to the plant information system.
The result is a dashboard that shows exactly how much each motor, each production line and each area of the plant consumes — in real time and with complete history for analysis.
Technology we use
| Component | Technology | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Smart meters | Acrel, MBS (RS485/Modbus) | Measure kWh, kW and PF per circuit |
| Wireless meters | LoRaWAN wireless CTs | Circuits with no cabling available |
| Integration | Node-RED (Modbus → InfluxDB) | Collection and storage |
| Visualization | Grafana + Power BI | Operational dashboard and management reports |
Concrete, measurable benefits
1. Demand peak management
In Chile, industrial electricity tariffs include a maximum demand charge (kW peak). Reducing the peak — by staggering the startup of large motors — can significantly lower the monthly bill without reducing production.
2. Detection of abnormal consumption
A motor drawing 20% more than normal is failing or working under unsuitable conditions. Continuous monitoring detects this deviation automatically and raises an alert — before it becomes a catastrophic failure.
3. Automatic carbon footprint reporting
With the consumption history by area available in the Historian, the carbon footprint report is generated automatically. This is key for companies with ESG commitments or that export to markets requiring environmental traceability.
4. ISO 50001 compliance
The ISO 50001 energy management standard requires continuous measurement and evidence of improvement. The monitoring system provides exactly that evidence automatically.
Typical ROI in Chile
An energy monitoring project in a mid-sized industrial plant (5-20 MW of installed demand) has a typical payback period of 6 to 18 months. The most common sources of savings are a lower demand charge (15-25%), elimination of phantom consumption outside working hours (5-15%), and power factor optimization (up to 8% savings on the bill).
Do you really know how much each machine in your plant consumes?
We implement energy monitoring per circuit with a real-time dashboard and automatic reports. Free initial assessment.
Request an energy assessment →