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Austin, Texas — Business Wire — March 2, 2016 — ALDI has successfully deployed Siemens’ Site Controls Energy Management System (EMS) at nearly 1,500 of its retail locations.
The majority of the EMS installations were retrofits at existing stores where thermostats or third-party energy management systems were replaced, but Siemens also installed its Site Controls EMS in newly constructed stores as well.
This energy management program will leverage advanced cloud-based technology to build upon the grocer’s previous initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, such as the installation of solar panels, at dozens of retail stores and four distribution centers.
The Site Controls EMS reduces energy use at stores by monitoring and/or controlling key energy-consuming devices such as HVAC units, indoor lighting, store signage, indoor and outdoor temperature sensors, and refrigeration units. The EMS also monitors energy output and performance of on-site solar panels.
Complementing store-level optimization is the Site Controls Enterprise Portal, a cloud-based data analytics platform that provides the grocer enterprise-level dashboards, KPIs, and outlier reporting to quickly pinpoint and resolve issues that would otherwise drive excessive consumption or negatively impact customer comfort.
The system can also help ALDI lower maintenance costs by streamlining identification of problems, intelligently dispatching, and remotely validating work performed by HVAC service technicians.
ALDI selected Siemens after an initial 16-site pilot in 2012 validated the Site Controls system’s ability to reduce consumption at its stores, and a 180-site rollout in 2013 demonstrated that results could be replicated across an entire region.
By working closely together, ALDI and Siemens were able to successfully install the remaining sites in less than 10 months. ALDI will also install the Site Controls system in new stores as it continues to expand across the U.S.
ALDI estimates that its stores made up a significant portion of its total carbon emissions. With the Site Controls EMS now installed, ALDI anticipates reducing carbon emissions by an additional 29,000 metric tons per year — the annual equivalent of removing 6,100 cars from the road or of providing electricity for 4,000 homes.
The energy cost savings associated with the project also exceeded ALDI’s capital investment criteria, providing a favorable Return on Investment (ROI).
Site Controls is a trademark of Siemens and/or its affiliates in some countries.
A leader in the grocery retailing industry, ALDI, operates nearly 1,500 U.S. stores in 32 states.
Siemens Corp. is a U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG, a global company focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. Siemens reported worldwide revenue of $86.2 billion in fiscal 2015.
