Partner Spotlight: Cunovesa

Cunovesa is an engineering and construction services company with a focus on energy management and efficiency. They offer services to clients in various industries, including the agri-food, industrial and chemical sectors. These are all sectors with a very important technical component, requiring very specific expertise and services.

In this Spotlight interview we talk to Cunovesa to find out more about their projects, their plans for the future and their relationship with energy efficiency.

Why did you Decide to Become a Spacewell Energy Partner?

We decided to go with Spacewell Energy as our energy management platform partner because of the strength of the technical solution built on pioneering experience in the sector. For its end-user oriented power and the proximity of the technical team.

Another advantage of the platform is the customisation for our industrial clients, the multiplicity of user profiles and the versatility of integration with client systems and equipment, minimising implementation costs.

Spacewell Energy’s solution manages to simplify the complexity of energy management thanks to its intuitive operation that greatly facilitates our work as energy consultants. Therefore, the decision making of our customers in terms of savings projects, measurement and verification of the expected returns on investment.

We also want to highlight the ability of the platform to create a hierarchy (zones, locations, sub-locations, groups). It is very suitable when dealing with a large amount of data coming from different consumer groups, guaranteeing the integrity of data and information displayed.

Finally, it is also worth highlighting the adaptability of the system to integrate equipment and communication protocols, making the system a tool compatible with a large number of devices and brands, giving it a versatility tailored to each client.

Which Functionalities of the Energy Management System do you Use Most Frequently? 

The functionalities we use most frequently are those found in the Analyse section (Analysis, Reports and Alerts). Among other benefits, these functions help us to detect possible anomalies in energy consumption, identify the consumption patterns of our customers and see potential energy (and economic) saving measures based on the measurement principle.

Also, thanks to the configuration of automatic reports, the platform allows us to analyse and keep up to date with the development of the different energy consumptions very conveniently. There are many types of automatic reports, both default and customisable. In our case, the one we use the most for its usefulness and accuracy is the monthly electricity bill simulation.

Another tool we use very often is the Dashboards. It offers, at a glance, the most relevant monitoring parameters for each customer case, as well as a very high degree of customisation.

What is the day-to-day life of an Energy Manager at Cunovesa like?

As an energy manager, it is difficult to describe a typical day. The day to day is usually conditioned by the client’s needs, the phase of the project in which we find ourselves and the deadlines set, among many other factors.

Generally speaking, our way of understanding the day-to-day relationship with our clients involves gaining their trust through proactive management of the energy parameters we monitor, helping them to make good decisions. Our work is 100% oriented towards energy savings, helping our clients to make decisions with objective data based on the principle of measurement.

The measurement principle is the 24×7 audit that we can only complete with an energy management system with an advanced and powerful tool such as Spacewell Energy.

What are the Top 3 Most Common “Problems” of your Clients?

Three very common “problems” that we as energy managers encounter in our clients’ day-to-day business are as follows:

1. Improvable energy efficiency in their production lines due to the use of old electrical components, inefficient air conditioning systems, poor thermal insulation, etc. 
2. In relation to the previous point, lack of understanding of the impact and costs associated with the energy consumption and performance of the production processes of their activities.
3. Difficulty in understanding the complexity of energy markets and lack of dedicated expert energy managers.

How does Spacewell Energy help your customers to Overcome these Obstacles and Save Energy?

In reference to the previous points, the monitoring of the different consumptions integrated in the platform allows to identify in a very simple and fast way the possible inefficiencies or too high consumptions. 

Similarly, the Spacewell Energy platform also quantifies, apart from energy and environmental parameters, the economic impact associated with a company’s energy use. In this way, we identify the areas with the greatest and least potential for savings and their percentage weight in relation to the overall consumption reflected in the bill.

On the other hand, the energy management system has a very powerful tool to enter electricity contracts with a wide range of parameters to cover all types of contracts with complex formulations in a very simple and intuitive way. In addition, you can enter as many contracts and supplies as you wish. And there is a section where you can create simulations that allow you to compare the costs obtained in the final bill depending on the selected contracts.

What are your Energy Challenges?

Our main challenge is to effectively accompany our clients towards the decarbonisation of their processes in terms of energy. Each of our projects focuses on understanding energy consumption patterns, identifying potential for improvement, implementing the most appropriate solution for each case and being able to quantify the savings obtained through a measurement and verification process.

In your experience, which Sectors are Most Receptive to Energy Management?

From our point of view and in the current context, energy management is suitable and necessary for all sectors. It is clear that in some sectors this management can have more impact than in others. For example, the transport sector, which is the sector with the highest energy consumption at national level and in which electric mobility is becoming increasingly important.

In our case, we are mainly dedicated to the industrial sector, where we consider energy management to be key. Energy consumption tends to be very high and is a key strategic factor in their competitiveness. 

How do you perceive the Commitment to Energy Efficiency in the Agri-Food Sector? 

At Cunovesa we feel that the commitment to energy efficiency in the agri-food sector is very high. As we have already mentioned, energy costs tend to be a strategic factor in the sector, allowing companies to offer more competitive products the lower the costs involved in their production processes.

In recent years, a large number of agrovoltaic energy projects have been carried out. This new concept is based on the use of agricultural land to obtain electrical energy by means of photovoltaic solar panels, which coexist with the crops themselves. This technique is very beneficial for the sector. The energy needs of farms are often easily covered solely by self-consumed photovoltaic energy, substantially reducing energy costs and minimising the associated carbon footprint.

Another popular example in the agri-food industry is biogas, which is a type of renewable gas produced from the organic waste obtained in different industrial processes. Biogas can be used to produce electricity and thermal energy, thus reducing the volume of waste deposited in landfills. It boosts the decarbonisation of the sector and promotes a circular economy process that is beneficial for companies and the environment.