Futureproofing Your Organisation in a Changing Energy Landscape

The energy sector is notoriously unpredictable, with both volatile wholesale prices and the changing landscape due to the energy transition presenting a range of changing difficulties for organisation when it comes to managing and optimising their energy usage. With a wide range of variables, including weather, geopolitical events, changing legislation and partner expectations, all impacting on optimal energy management, priorities from one year to the next, or indeed from month to month, can change rapidly. 

This can make investing in new energy technologies challenging. As an example, during the peak of the energy price crisis, many organisations will have looked to invest in technologies than reduce their exposure to rapidly rising grid energy costs. Some organisations even considered switching to diesel generation to cut costs. However, this carbon intensive option risks leaving their sustainability efforts in tatters, and once energy prices returned to a more normal level, left them with a sunk cost that offered them no day-to-day benefit. 

Taking a Wider View 

The example of diesel generation as a reaction to energy costs is a good example of how a piecemeal approach to energy management, and particularly investment in energy solutions, risks causing more issues than it solves in the long-term. Without a wider strategy that ensures an organisation is working towards all its energy management priorities, knee jerk reactions can be costly.  

Cost is just one aspect of this, with issues such as grid constraints also potentially having a huge detrimental effect on plans if not properly factored in. EV charging on-site may seem like a great option to boost sustainability, but can become extremely costly, or even redundant, if grid constraints means that the site doesn’t have available capacity to use them. 

In broad terms, an energy management strategy needs to deliver on four varied but equally vital priorities: 

• Cost reduction 
• Improved sustainability 
• Ensuring power resilience 
• Facilitating growth 

Any investment in technology or change in the way a site manages and uses energy, should be considered against these four metrics, ensuring that at a minimum, any investment made offers improvements in some areas without undermining others. Ideally, investments should be laying the foundation for a strategy that delivers clear improvement across the board. 

Comprehensive Planning 

Building an energy management strategy that achieves these different goals, in the most cost-effective and efficient way possible, can be extremely challenging. There is no one size fits all solution, as every organisation is different in terms of their priorities, key stakeholder expectations and their existing site infrastructure.  

Designing the ideal solution starts with a comprehensive understanding of how a site currently uses energy, including potential points of failure, areas for improvement and new opportunities for growth. An effective strategy also needs to be able to factor in upcoming changes, including prices, legislation, sustainability requirements and a wide variety of other internal and external factors. While nobody knows everything about what the future will hold, the right strategic partner can provide the expertise to ensure that the solution delivered is able to adapt to whatever is thrown at it.  

At Powerstar, we specialise in working alongside clients to deliver bespoke, highly optimised energy management solutions that futureproof sites against future changes to the energy landscape, while also improving on each of their different energy management priorities from day one. From initial feasibility studies, through design, manufacture, commissioning and aftercare, we ensure your investment in better energy management continues to deliver optimal results however the energy landscape twists and turns.