Easyday Case Study - Reducing Power Consumption at Retail Stores | Energyly

VIDABEST ENERGY PVT. LTD.

2019 EASYDAY CASE STUDY PREPARED FOR Retail stores looking for effective energy efficiency solutions.

Grocery Stores

Cafés & Restaurants

Ice cream Parlours

VIDABEST ENERGY PVT. LTD.

YEAR 2019

SUPERMARKET & CONVENIENCE STORE pados ki dukan According to Wikipedia, Easyday is an Indian retail brand that runs chains of consumer retail supermarkets and convenience stores. The brand is wholly owned by Future Retail Ltd. Bharti Enterprises announced its foray into retail in February 2007 and the first store was opened in Punjab in April 2008. Easyday presently has 523 stores across 12 states. Future Group, that owns and operate Big Bazaar, combined retail operations with Easyday in May 2015. The merger has created one of India's biggest retail chains with more than 890 stores in 246 cities in India.

Easyday sells items and products of various brands keeping in mind the requirements of the local and regional needs. A typical Easyday store sells groceries including fresh produce inclusive of fruits, vegetables & milk; cereals, meat, poultry, dairy and baked products, canned goods, soups, grains, snacks, cookies, chips, condiments, beverages, sauces, spices, and candy; beauty products like toiletries, fragrances, makeup, shaving and skincare items; health care items; apparel, hosiery, shoes & accessories; books and stationary; toys; gifts; kitchen ware; home improvement products including tools, lighting, & electronic accessories; and items related to region.

VIDABEST ENERGY PVT. LTD.

YEAR 2019

An overview

WHERE WE ARE NOW Our correspondence with Easyday

MACHINES USED AT EASYDAY:

began in December 2017 at Janakpuri store in New Delhi. The

Before reading further you need

objective agreed between both the

to know which machines were

parties was to reduce the power

being used at the store. It will give

cost in the store by installing and

you a clearer understanding of the

analyzing Energyly’s smart energy

analysis. The machines at the store

meter and data captured through

and that which were connected to

Energyly dashboard respectively.

our energy meter are:

So we split the objective into

AC : One 8.5 ton AC, one 5.5 ton

workable plan and set out to bring

AC and two 2.5 ton ACs

about positive energy efficiency at

Diary Chillers : 2 Chillers

Easyday.

Meat Display Freezer : 1 Freezer Frozen Chiller : 1 Freezer

OUR AGENDA: •To study real-time energy consumption of every device used in one Easyday store, •Find energy wastage and potential for energy savings, •Get real-time ON/OFF status of devices remotely, •To get real-time alerts if devices consume more power than the usual, •To understand health of devices to identify for the need service or replacement.

VIDABEST ENERGY PVT. LTD.

FINDINGS #1 1. DEFECT IN COMPRESSOR: As we know, an AC cools a building by transferring the heat indoor to outdoor. It does so by using a chemical refrigerant which absorbs the heat indoors and pumps it through the pipes to the outside coil.

The component used to pump the refrigerant to flow through the system is called the compressor. It is the heart of the AC and is controlled by a thermostat. This compressor functions only when the indoor temperature is more than desired temperature and stops once the desired temperature is achieved. This behaviour continues regularly thereby creating a pattern.

In Easyday’s case, the compressor did not function properly in both 8.5 ton and 5.5 ton ACs. Although 8.5 ton AC has a regular compressor cut on and cut off pattern, it did not happen on all days. Whereas in 2.5 ton AC, there was very little to no cut off in compressor pattern.

YEAR 2019

VIDABEST ENERGY PVT. LTD.

YEAR 2019

FINDINGS #2 2. IRREGULAR SENSOR PATTERN IN FROZEN CHILLER: Like every cooling machine, the freezer has two sensors but unlike in AC, the compressor in freezers do not compare the temperature between indoor and outdoor.

Here there is a sensor1 attached to the freezer opener another sensor2 inside the freezer. Generally, an operator sets a temperature to the freezer for cooling using sensor1 and then sensor2 compares the temperature inside the freezer and performs it’s cut on/off pattern accordingly. This process repeats until the desired temperature is achieved.

Normally, the pattern is difficult to achieve during day time, as the operator frequently opens and closes the freezer, but at night the pattern has to exist. In Easyday, the freezer’s compressor seemed to be running continuously without a drop in it’s cut off time, which will cost the company dear.

VIDABEST ENERGY PVT. LTD.

FINDINGS #3 3. UNEQUAL POWER DISTRIBUTION: Imagine a single-lane and multi-lane highway. Like the single-lane highway which can occupy only a certain number of vehicles, a single-phase connection can provide only a limited wattage of power thereby it limits the number of appliances / machines that can be operated simultaneously.

Similarly, taking a multi-lane highway as an example, a three-phase connection can provide more wattage that can be distributed to additional appliances. The key point here is that power should be equally distributed among the three phases R,Y & B, otherwise which will affect the machines connected adversely resulting in high maintenance issues.

This problem was discovered at Easyday at an AC wired to a three-phase connection.

The fact is that, this could incur more loss than you can realize at an extent to concerns related to safety.

YEAR 2019

VIDABEST ENERGY PVT. LTD.

YEAR 2019

FINDINGS #4 4. NEGLIGENCE OF COMPANY POLICY: Energyly reports showed that the ACs were being used during the lunch hours continuously for several days despite there was a company policy that the ACs need to be switched OFF everyday between 02.00 PM and 04.00 PM. This could also be assuming that business might have happened during that time, anyway it helps the company to frame better policies or allot a different period of time for energy conservation if the lunch period brought considerable business.

FINDINGS #5 5. TIME MISMANAGEMENT: At Easyday, we identified that they did not have a fixed time in the morning and at night to switch ON and OFF ACs respectively. They operated anytime between 08.00 to 10.00 AM and 08.00 to 10.00 PM, which ultimately led to an irregular pattern in machine energy usage.

At many times not having a fixed time may not appear to be a concern to worry but only by having a system in place we can monitor the machines regularly which will in turn help us to discover various energy efficiency opportunities.

VIDABEST ENERGY PVT. LTD.

YEAR 2019

Easyday's

SAVINGS POTENTAIL ACs used vs not used during lunch hours:

Meat Display Chiller (if cycle pattern corrected):

•5.5 Ton AC 1. Without Lunch Hour Switch OFF (2

(2 units per day * 30days * ₹ 10 per unit ) = ₹ 600 per month

hrs): (6 units/hour x 12 hours x 30

Total Savings Potential per month = ₹

days x ₹ 10/unit)= ₹ 21600 per month

9000 per month

2. With 2 Lunch Switch OFF (2 hrs): (6 units/hour x 10 hours x 30 days x ₹ 10 / unit) = ₹ 18000 per month.

Savings potential ₹ 3600 •8.5 Ton AC 1. Without Lunch Hour Switch OFF (2 hrs): (8 units/hour x 12 hours x 30 days x ₹ 10/unit)= ₹ 28800 per month

1,04,500/-

Total Savings Potential per year

2. With 2 Lunch Switch OFF (2 hrs): (8 units/hour x 10 hours x 30 days x ₹ 10 / unit) = ₹ 24000 per month.

Savings potential ₹ 4800

9000/-

Total Savings Potential per month

RETURN OF INVESTMENT Given the savings potential, with a one time purchase of the smart energy meter and recurring cloud charges, ROI can be attained in less than 6 months. With the annual cloud charges being merely Rs. 3500, Easyday could easily save around Rs. 1,04,500 a year per store.