Yokogawa has added Soteica Visual MESA's energy management and optimisation solution services to its portfolio of plantwide energy management solutions (EMS).
Visual MESA has been described as an online energy management “Watchdog” that assists the user by finding the mode of operation of utilities systems that has minimum cost within all equipment, system reliability, and emissions constraints.
Visual MESA monitors imbalances which allow users to keep track of leaks, instrumentation degradation, and operational changes in the field.
Yokogawa has acquired 44.3% ownership of Soteica Visual MESA to accelerate the joint development of EMS.
Manufacturers are interested in EMS that will help them consume less energy and reduce their manufacturing costs.
In addition, there is an increasing trend to optimise the mix of conventional and alternative energy sources used by plants, which can help to protect the environment by reducing the emissions of gases such as CO2 and NOx.
There are two components to energy management in plants. One is to make more efficient the supply and distribution of utilities, such as steam, electricity and fuel that are used by equipment in the main process.
The other is to optimise the energy consumed by the main process itself. Yokogawa has control solution packages for main processes, and helps save energy by optimising plant operations.
At the same time, the company has lacked EMS for utilities that can be used to achieve the optimum mix of conventional and renewable energy sources, based on factors such as process operating conditions and energy prices.
Until now, the company has had to devise solutions for such requirements on an ad hoc basis.
Yokogawa thus decided to partner with Soteica Visual MESA, a global technology provider in the EMS field that has worked with major oil companies and has a strong track record in the oil industry.
The partnership will allow Yokogawa to sell Soteica Visual MESA's Visual MESA energy management and optimisation solution package, extending the range of solution services that it is able to offer to its customers.
The partnership will also allow Soteica Visual MESA to expand its sales of Visual MESA through Yokogawa's global sales network, with a particular focus on Asia.
Visual MESA is capable of reducing annual energy costs by approximately 2% to 5%.
There are approximately 3,400 plants worldwide with $40 million or more in utility costs each year that could benefit from Visual MESA and obtain a return on their investment in one year or less. Yokogawa will initially be targeting these facilities.
Yokogawa will provide high value added EMS services, including maintenance and sitewide energy management and optimization services (sustainability services).
Yokogawa and Soteica Visual MESA will also cooperate in engineering with the aim of acquiring the knowledge needed to create a new business model for an EMS service that can help to optimise energy efficiency throughout a plant, including the main process and utilities.
"We are very excited about entering into this comprehensive partnership with Yokogawa as it will enable us to dramatically increase the exposure of Visual MESA, our industry leading solution for utilities optimisation," said Oscar Santollani, Soteica Visual MESA's CEO.
Yokogawa President Shuzo Kaihori commented: "Our customer's technologically advanced plants need not only to reduce their energy consumption but also to obtain the best mix of conventional and renewable energy sources in order to protect the environment by reducing emissions of CO2, NOx, and other gases.
"To meet our customers' growing needs in this area, Soteica is an ideal fit for Yokogawa, allowing us to deliver field proven plantwide energy management and optimisation solutions and services."