Improving energy efficiency of a cold storage company: Exploring opportunities to reduce energy consumption at Froid Des Mascareignes Ltée

Abstract

Froid Des Mascareignes Ltée (FDM) is, a seafood handling and storage company based on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. With refrigeration at the center of its activities, FDM’s annual electricity bills average to $1,221,076. This research project explores opportunities of reducing electricity consumption and therefore improve efficiency at FDM. This was achieved using one main utensil: The energy audit. Through a literature review, we were able to gain proper understanding of the refrigeration cycle and were therefore able to tailor the audit to FDM’s specific case. Using the energy audit, we were able to answer to our three research questions 1. What is the current electricity use pattern of FDM? 2. Where is electricity currently being wasted? 3. What are the opportunities of reducing their current electricity consumption? Throughout the energy audit, several energy management opportunities (EMO) were raised. Once summarized, the most significant EMOs were selected to be quantified and evaluated. These main EMOs included the retrofitting of variable spend drives on condensers, evaporators and compressors; retrofit the system with electronic expansion valves; changing current lights to LEDs and finally installing a solar PV system. It was finally concluded that, if implemented, these EMOs could help reduce FDM’s electricity consumption by 45%