KNESS helps businesses become energy independent

KNESS Group has implemented a turnkey solar power plant with an energy storage installation for Vinnytsia enterprise — Vinpromholod. The company is now energy independent and can operate on clean electricity.

Embarking on The Path to Energy Independence

The enterprise owns industrial freezers and refrigerated warehouses and is committed to responsible food storage. Electricity accounts for approximately 40% of their product cost – cold “production”. In 2021, KNESS built a rooftop solar power plant with a capacity of over 200 kW for the company.

To optimize the electricity purchase cost from the external grid, we also started managing the energy balance and maintaining the solar power plant on an ongoing basis. All of this has enabled the company to efficiently use its own power source and make significant savings.

“A solar power plant is an ideal solution for freezing warehouses. This is due to the “natural” synchronization of electricity generation and consumption schedules. That is, our refrigeration and freezing units consume the most electricity in the summer, when the solar power plant generates more electricity compared to the winter period. In this way, our peak electricity consumption naturally coincides with the peak electricity generation schedule of the solar power plant.

Thus, in the first operation year of our own solar power plant, we saved about 850 thousand kWh on electricity procurement, and in 2023 about 920 thousand kWh. In less than 3 years, our investment in the project has paid off.

This was the stimulus for scaling up the capacity of generating units to achieve our own energy independence. And based on the previous win-win experience of cooperation with KNESS, we entrusted the implementation of this project to this team,” – mentioned Anatolii Dakhnovskyi, Director of “Vinpromholod” LLC.

Achieving Energy Independence

This year, KNESS built the second stage of a rooftop solar power plant with a capacity of more than 200 kW for its business partner (the total capacity of the solar power plant together with the first stage is 422 kW) and installed an energy storage unit with a capacity of up to 400 kWh. For this project, we used the technological solution of our manufacturing partner Huawei. Thanks to the correct calculation of the required power of its own power source and the ESS, the company has provided itself with its own clean electricity. Moreover, it has the ability to operate during power outages.

“Thanks to a well-implemented energy project, we can be sure that our customers will always receive fresh and high-quality products, regardless of external circumstances. This is the most important thing for us,” – Anatoliy Dakhnovskyi emphasized.

How Does the Business Model Work?

The electricity volume generated by a solar power plant during certain hours may exceed the needs of the consumer’s enterprise. Therefore, an energy storage was implemented together with the solar power plant. This approach allows the company to accumulate excess electricity during the hours when the electricity production from the solar power plant exceeds the enterprise’s consumption and use it during the hours when the electricity price from the external grid is high. This will, in addition to saving money on electricity purchases, create a significant effect on the electricity system, which is about unloading external power grids.

The energy storage installation can also be “charged” from the external grid during hours when the power system has a power surplus, and, as a result, the electricity price is low. In this case, managing ESS operation is based on the “Aggregator” model.  This involves the involvement of active consumers with their own generating and/or energy storage facilities in the processes of balancing the power system.

Intellectual Component

Ou RnD Center team has developed a software module for managing the company’s energy balance specifically for this project. Thanks to the developed tool, the Vinpromholod team is able to manage and monitor its consumption, generation, ESS charge/discharge, and electricity consumption/output from/to the external grid in real time. The software solution allows the system to be controlled both manually and in automated mode.

More and more Ukrainian enterprises are moving towards energy independence, contributing to the energy transformation of our country towards the development of decentralized, distributed generation based on renewable energy sources. Vinpromholod enterprise is an example for others, as it demonstrates responsibility for its own energy sustainability and energy independence. And we help companies on this path by creating an opportunity to look beyond the horizon and strategically take care of the sustainable development of their business.