These are but a few of the manufacturers and industrial and commercial businesses the EMT has been granted ratepayer money.
Efficiency Maine Disclaimer
Free Rider: A program participant who, as determined through surveys and market analysis, would have installed equivalent efficiency measures independent of the Trust’s program or its incentives.
NOTE: the disclaimer above is not to be associated with the following companies.
Case Study: Sappi
Heat Recovery Vessel
In 2016, Sappi submitted a proposal to Efficiency Maine’s C&I Custom Program for a heat recovery project at its Skowhegan paper mill. The heat recovery vessel (HRV) transfers thermal energy from a paper machine’s vacuum blower exhaust stream directly to the facility’s process white water – the liquid that carries chemicals through a series of vessels and operations in the paper-making process. By recycling waste heat, the project drastically reduces the facility’s overall process steam demand. Because Sappi adjusts its boiler fuel-type usage based on real-time prices, this project saves a mix of fuel oil, natural gas, and biomass.
- Project cost: $1,398,883
- Efficiency Maine incentive: $637,000
- Annual energy savings: 55,669 MMBtu
Case Study: Texas Instruments
Vacuum Pumps
Texas Instruments (TI) is a semiconductor manufacturing company based in South Portland. In 2015, TI approached Efficiency Maine’s C&I Custom Program with a project to replace 301 vacuum pumps with new, high-efficiency models. In the semiconductor industry, vacuum pumps maintain ultra-clean environments by removing all air from wafer processing stations. The existing pumps’ extremely high run time and inefficient energy usage constituted a prime savings opportunity for TI. Modeling also showed that the upgrade would generate indirect savings in the form of reduced heat rejection; less waste heat equates to less energy used by the central chiller plant. Nevertheless, facing a host of competing capital investment priorities, the national TI office would not approve the project due to its initial economics. This changed when Efficiency Maine endorsed the savings analysis and offered a financial incentive to significantly improve the project’s return on investment.
- Project cost: $6,274,147
- Efficiency Maine incentive: $2,924,768
- Annual energy savings: 11.7 million kWh
Glenmoor by the Sea in Lincolnville worked with Efficiency Maine to install 40 heat pumps in their seaside inn. “The incentives* were just too good to pass up,” said Kriste.
Humble Comfort Food and Spirits in Brewer, Maine, worked with Efficiency Maine to upgrade the restaurant’s heating, cooling, and lighting. Humble installed two heat pumps that both heat and cool, and also upgraded their lighting from fluorescent bulbs to LEDs.
Fairfield Inn, Scarborough – Guest Room PTAC Controls The Fairfield Inn in Scarborough sought the help of the Efficiency Maine C&I Custom Program to install wireless, centrally connected thermostats and associated controls to reduce the runtime of guestroom heating and cooling systems. Each of the 116 guestrooms at the Fairfield Inn has a packaged terminal air‐conditioner (PTAC) unit for heating and cooling. Originally, these units were controlled using in‐room wired thermostats with no remote‐access capabilities. With temperature modifications reliant upon manual adjustments at each unit in each room, the PTACs would often run when the rooms were unoccupied. This resulted in a considerable amount of unnecessary energy use. The new wireless, centrally connected thermostats now communicate with the in-room PTACs via a wireless receiver and have occupancy sensing and automatic temperature setback control. All thermostats are connected to and controlled by an online, remote management system that can adjust setback limits based on a programmed allowable recovery time. This maximizes potential savings without adversely impacting guest comfort. • Approximate Project Cost: $30,000 • Efficiency Maine Incentive: $14,706
Bath Iron Works (BIW), Bath – HVAC Upgrades Bath Iron Works (BIW) recently used Efficiency Maine financial incentives to upgrade its air filtration and make-up air systems to high-efficiency options. BIW is a major shipyard that has been building U.S. Navy warships in Bath for more than 100 years. The primary structural assembly building is nearly 170,000 square feet with 80-foot ceilings. It houses the majority of the facility’s welding operations. Originally, the assembly building’s heat was provided by 19 Modine unit heaters equipped with steam coils. The building operated at a significant negative pressure; exhaust fans pulled air out of the building and uncontrolled make-up air came in through infiltration. This caused the building to experience fume accumulation, cold temperatures, and considerable energy loss. In 2018, BIW launched an effort to upgrade the building to improve air quality, increase winter space temperatures, reduce the negative pressure, and save energy. During its bid solicitation process, BIW received two separate proposals for new air filtration and make-up air systems – one high-efficiency, more expensive option, and one lower-efficiency, less expensive option. Both systems would accomplish the company’s goals for the project, but by offering a financial incentive to defray the upfront incremental cost differential, the C&I Custom Program was able to encourage BIW to select the high efficiency option. Efficiency Maine Trust is happy to support BIW’s pursuit of healthier, more energy-efficient work environments. • Approximate Project Incremental Cost: $1,800,000. • Efficiency Maine Incentive: $752,143
Boyne Resorts (Sugarloaf Mountain and Sunday River), Carrabassett Valley and Newry – High Efficiency Snow Guns Efficiency Maine is happy to help Maine’s ski areas extend the ski season and reduce operating costs by improving the efficiency of their snowmaking equipment. Two of Maine’s top ski resorts, Sugarloaf and Sunday River, were each awarded funding for upgrades to more than 200 tower-mounted snow guns that maximize the efficiency of these models. The upgrades are expected to reduce the equipment’s compressed air usage by as much as 80%. Sugarloaf and Sunday River are owned by Boyne Resorts, a collection of 12 mountain and lakeside resorts, ski areas, and attractions spanning from British Columbia to Maine. Highly skilled members of the company’s global team worked with Efficiency Maine to make substantial improvements to the overall productivity and efficiency of snowmaking operations at both resorts. Snowmaking is a labor- and energy-intensive process that requires large amounts of compressed air and water. Premium snowmaking equipment produces high-quality snow over a wider temperature range while requiring less compressed air than conventional technology. Utilizing premium equipment allows Sugarloaf and Sunday River to continue providing a superior snow surface and skiing experience to Mainers and those from beyond our borders. • Project Cost: $4,250,000 • Efficiency Maine Incentive: $1,619,793
Maine Wild Blueberry – Refrigeration System Upgrades Maine Wild Blueberry Company harvests and processes wild blueberries in Machias. Throughout the year, the blueberries undergo various stages of frozen storage and packaging, requiring a large refrigeration driven electrical demand. Leveraging an Efficiency Maine C&I Custom Program incentive, Maine Wild Blueberries replaced two of its single-fan refrigeration condensers with one high-efficiency, three-fan condenser; installed variable frequency drives (VFDs) on all remaining condenser fans, and installed optimizing controls on the compressor plant. The upgrades not only produced compressor and condenser fan energy savings, but also improved the performance of the refrigeration system. • Approximate Project Cost: $240,000 • Efficiency Maine Incentive: $94,000 • Annual Energy Savings: 340,000 kWh
Industrial Beneficial Electrification In 2018 a Maine manufacturer* approached Efficiency Maine’s C&I Custom Program about options for saving energy in its production process. At that time, the company was using a significant amount of energy to remove water from (or “dewater”) its product using steam-driven evaporation. The facility staff identified an industrial filtration technology that would allow the company to displace the majority of its steam-driven evaporation needs with filtration-based dewatering. The project had a substantial upfront cost, but with the addition of a large incentive award from Efficiency Maine, local staff was able to secure corporate funding for the project. After a rigorous design and testing process to identify a suitable design for its facility, the manufacturer successfully installed the new equipment. The filtration equipment is now fully operational, and the site staff reports that it is performing above expectations. The project has reduced most of the company’s steam-driven evaporation needs, which has significantly reduced energy costs, helping support the long term operational and environmental goals of the facility. • Approximate project cost: $5,000,000 • Incentive award: $1,000,000 • Annual energy savings: 150,000 MMBtu of compressed natural gas * This customer asked to remain anonymous due to the competitive nature of its industry
Panolam Surface Systems – High Efficiency Compressed Air Panolam Surface Systems is a renowned producer of laminate surface coating materials used in a wide variety of applications, including countertops, office furniture, and fixtures. The facility uses large amounts of compressed air to support multiple industrial process end uses and the dust collection system. Panolam reached out to Efficiency Maine for help identifying and funding energy efficiency measures. This led to a collaboration between Compressor Energy Services and Panolam, who applied for and won a nearly $180,000 incentive for a premium high efficiency compressed air system. Compressed air is a major source of energy use and offers many opportunities for energy efficiency upgrades, including high-efficiency compressors, dryers, controls, and piping size increases that allow reduced operating pressures. All of these measures were implemented in this project. • Additional cost for high-efficiency system: $295,823 • Efficiency Maine incentive: $179,138 • Estimated annual energy savings: 700,950 kW
American Unagi – Heat Recovery Ventilation and High-Efficiency Oxygenation The American Unagi facility is designed to support the raising of Maine glass eels to adulthood. Historically these baby eels have been caught in Maine and then shipped to Asia to be raised to their adult size and sold to restaurants worldwide. The facility is the first of its kind in North America and began operations at their new facility in Waldoboro last fall. They provide local and nationwide restaurants with live and processed sushi grade eel. American Unagi’s consultant (Aquaculture Consultancy & Engineering) and Efficiency Maine staff worked together to identify two value-added equipment options that would reduce energy costs for the facility. One incentive was awarded for specialized energy recovery ventilators designed to operate in the high humidity conditions of an indoor aquaculture environment. The other incentive was awarded for high-efficiency oxygenation equipment that delivers pumping energy savings. Both awards support the purchase of specialized equipment specific to the aquaculture industry and offset the additional costs of the high-efficiency equipment options. Process or industry-specific equipment upgrades and options are great candidates for Custom Program funding. • Additional cost for high-efficiency options: $200,000 • Combined incentive award: $130,000 • Estimated annual energy savings: 250,000 kWh and 2,500 MMBtus propane
Enterprise Casting – High Efficiency Power Supply Enterprise Casting is a leading supplier of iron castings to a wide variety of equipment manufacturers and end users. The facility uses induction furnaces, which draw significant electric power to melt metal for their products. In 2021, Enterprise Casting contacted Efficiency Maine looking for help in purchasing a high-efficiency power supply for their furnaces. Working with Enterprise and their vendors, Efficiency Maine’s Custom Program was able to award Enterprise a $33,118 incentive to offset the additional cost of a high-efficiency power supply unit over a less expensive baseline unit, hastening the simple payback for the upgrade to less than a year. Large expenditures for energy-intensive equipment like this example, represent key opportunities to upgrade to premium, high-efficiency equipment options. Efficiency Maine’s Custom Program helps offset the additional cost of high-efficiency options at a level commensurate with the annual energy use of the equipment, additional cost, and verifiable efficiency gains. • Additional cost for high-efficiency system: $45,000 • Efficiency Maine incentive: $33,118 • Estimated annual energy savings: 167,000 kWh
Robbins Lumber – Dust Collection Heat Recovery and Micro Steam Turbine Robbins Lumber produces fine Eastern White Pine lumber products at four locations in Maine. Products include exterior and interior siding products, as well as flooring and specialty precoated lumber. The company is owned and managed by fifth-generation family members and has been in business for more than 140 years. Robbins Lumber has a long history of collaboration with Efficiency Maine highlighted by two recently completed projects that received Custom Program incentives: a high-efficiency dust collection system and a 275-kW micro steam back pressure turbine. The dust collection system (installed by AQuest Corporation) produces savings over a cheaper baseline system by filtering and recirculating conditioned air and by using variable-frequency drives (VFDs) to control fan motors. The 275-kW turbine (installed by NLine Energy) generates power from high-pressure steam and exhausts steam at low pressure for use in the lumber drying kilns. Both projects are great examples of common efficiency opportunities at sawmills, which typically have large dust collection needs and access to cheap biomass fuel as a bioproduct of lumber manufacturing. Both projects had simple paybacks significantly under five years after the incentive. Businesses that currently have conditioned air exhausting the building without heat recovery or that have access to competitively priced fuel and a high-pressure boiler, should consider engaging with the Custom Program to investigate if these might be attractive solutions for your facility
.Robbins Lumber – Dust Collection Heat Recovery and Micro Steam Turbine Robbins Lumber produces fine Eastern White Pine lumber products at four locations in Maine. Products include exterior and interior siding products, as well as flooring and specialty precoated lumber. The company is owned and managed by fifth-generation family members and has been in business for more than 140 years. Robbins Lumber has a long history of collaboration with Efficiency Maine highlighted by two recently completed projects that received Custom Program incentives: a high-efficiency dust collection system and a 275-kW micro steam back pressure turbine. The dust collection system (installed by AQuest Corporation) produces savings over a cheaper baseline system by filtering and recirculating conditioned air and by using variable-frequency drives (VFDs) to control fan motors. The 275-kW turbine (installed by NLine Energy) generates power from high-pressure steam and exhausts steam at low pressure for use in the lumber drying kilns. Both projects are great examples of common efficiency opportunities at sawmills, which typically have large dust collection needs and access to cheap biomass fuel as a bioproduct of lumber manufacturing. Both projects had simple paybacks significantly under five years after the incentive. Businesses that currently have conditioned air exhausting the building without heat recovery or that have access to competitively priced fuel and a high-pressure boiler, should consider engaging with the Custom Program to investigate if these might be attractive solutions for your facility. • Additional cost for high-efficiency options: $500,000 • Combined incentive award: $248,000 • Estimated annual energy savings: 960,000 kWh plus 1,300 MMBtu propane
Peaks Renewables – Clinton – 280 kW Digester Combined Heat and Power Unit Peaks Renewables is a renewable energy development company that has built an anaerobic digester facility that produces pipeline-quality renewable natural gas (RNG) from cow manure. The RNG dairy digester is located on the Flood Brothers’ farm, the largest dairy farm in Maine and home to more than 3,100 cows. The RNG facility receives cow manure from six local dairy farms and returns dried processed manure (for use as bedding) and liquid fertilizer to the farms as biproducts of the RNG production process. A variety of mixers, pumps, and blowers are used to upgrade the raw gas output from the digester to pipeline quality natural gas. Additionally, the process has thermal loads associated with pre-heating the feedstock and treatment of the generated biogas. The Custom Program was able to award Peaks Renewables an incentive for a 280 kW combined heat and power (CHP) unit to offset electric loads and to serve the continuous process heating needs of the RNG facility. CHP is a great solution for facilities with continuous heating needs. The most common CHP technologies are reciprocating engines, like the one installed at Peaks Renewables, and backpressure turbines, which generate power from high-pressure steam. Project returns are particularly attractive for those sites with low-cost fuels and higher electricity costs. CHP is also eligible for an investment tax credit, which reduces overall project costs. • CHP unit final installed cost: $824,000 • Efficiency Maine incentive: $337,500 • Estimated annual energy savings: 2,000,000 kWh
Backyard Farms – Madison – Thermal Curtains Backyard Farms grows tomatoes year-round at their approximately 41-acre facility in Madison. Products include three types of tomatoes – on the vine, cocktail, and beefsteak. The facility is the largest building in Maine and has been growing tomatoes for New England grocery stores since 2007. Backyard Farms reached out in the spring of 2023 seeking support to install high-efficiency thermal curtains to replace existing thermal curtains, which had reached the end of their useful life. The curtains are used at night to reduce thermal losses in the greenhouse. By installing thermal curtains with a higher R-value (insulation rating), the company has significantly reduced the facility’s heating fuel use during the winter. Efficiency Maine was able to award an incentive bringing the estimated simple payback for the high-efficiency curtains over standard curtains down to one year. This is a great example of a large local operation investing in their facility to reduce operating costs, thereby helping to ensure the long-term success of the business. • Additional cost for high-efficiency option: $1,400,000 • Incentive award: $620,000 • Estimated annual energy savings: 82,000 MMBtus
Colby College is home to the Harold Alfond Athletic Center and the Jack Kelley Rink, a state-of-the-art ice rink that opened in 2020. The facility is the home arena for the Colby Men’s and Women’s hocky teams, as well as hosts recreational skating, figure skating, and local youth hockey teams. Typically, ice rinks use heated and filtered water to reduce air bubbles and create high quality ice. Heating the water before resurfacing uses both fuel to heat the water and additional electric energy to cool it back down. With support from Efficiency Maine’s Custom Program, Colby was able to install a REALice water treatment unit for ice making, which deaerates water by creating a zone of lower pressure within a vortex. This eliminates the need to heat water prior to resurfacing. Ice rinks are typically high-energy intensity facilities due to the cooling loads inherent with maintaining their ice sheets. Most ice rinks deaerate their water the same way the Jack Kelley rink did and could see energy benefits by moving to deaeration equipment that doesn’t rely on heating. • Total cost: $32,904 • Efficiency Maine incentive: $16,452 • Estimated annual energy savings: 232 MMBtus natural gas and 37,000 kWh
Quarry Road – Waterville - Snowmaking Quarry Road Trails, owned by the City of Waterville, offers high-quality cross-country skiing enhanced by snowmaking which attracts skiers from across the state. The facility regularly hosts races that draw hundreds of competitors to Waterville. Quarry Road previously used 13 out-of-date snow guns that are less efficient than modern snow guns. They were also using a diesel-powered compressor to produce the compressed air needed for snow guns to operate. In two separate applications during the fall of 2022 and winter of 2023, the Custom Program was able to help Quarry Road upgrade their compressor to an electrically driven unit and modernize their snow guns to units that use high efficiency nozzles with the capability to modulate water and air flow to maximize efficiency under varying ambient conditions. Snowmaking is an energy-intensive process relying on large amounts of compressed air to produce snow. Moving away from diesel-powered compressors to electrically driven compressors, as well as replacing older snow guns with modern high-efficiency units, are proven measures being implemented by some Maine ski areas to reduce the cost of producing snow. • Total cost: $105,000 • Efficiency Maine incentive: $24,000 • Estimated annual energy savings: 552 MMBtus diesel and 34,000 kWh
Steam System Insulation A manufacturing facility (wishing to remain anonymous) relies on an extensive steam system for all heating needs, which previously had many uninsulated valves, fittings, and steam traps, that resulted in significant heat losses. The customer worked with Dalkia Energy Solutions to quantify the heat losses and develop a scope of work to retrofit the uninsulated components with custom-made insulation by Thermaxx Jackets. The jackets are constructed to be easily removed for maintenance and reinstalled by facility staff. While steam piping itself is usually insulated during building construction, often components and more complicated sections of piping are not due to the need for custom-fitted insulation. Since heat loss is proportional to the difference in temperature between the heat source and sink, steam pipe and components are great candidates for insulation due to their high temperatures. • Cost for high-efficiency option: $175,000 • Incentive award: $105,000 • Estimated annual energy savings: 2,308 MMBtus
You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!
Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine