Identifying Opportunities for Energy Saving in a Metal Fabrication Workshop: a Case Study of Transpower Technologies Ltd

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify energy saving potential in metal fabrication workshops in Kenya with a case study done at Transpower Technologies Ltd (TTL) located along Eastern By-pass in Kiambu County. The main focus was to lower the annual energy bill which had escalated from Ksh 4,014 in April 2017(light production of samples of each item and setting operating standards of machines during this month) to Ksh 81,107 in December 2018. Therefore an audit was carried out to identify potential areas for energy savings and hence lower the energy bill. From a walk through preliminary evaluation of the main power consumers, energy savings possibilities were in the following areas; use of variable speed drives on motors, retrofitting conventional lights with LED lights, observing housekeeping measures and use of LPG instead of electrical elements in drying/curing ovens. A correctly installed LPG infrastructure allows maximum combustion of the gas and hence carbon foot print of the workshop is maintained. After carrying out the actual audit, the proposed changes would contribute an energy saving of 48,276.46 kWh. Economic evaluation was conducted in a manner that made it easy to calculate payback period from the total of the investment divided by the total annual energy cost savings. A payback period of 2 years and 1.8 months was estimated.