U.S. DOE grant enables Ndustrial-led team to
maximize grid flexibility while reducing costs and food waste in
refrigerated operations using AI
RALEIGH,
N.C., Aug. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ndustrial has
received a Phase 1 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to
enhance AI systems to maximize grid flexibility and reduce energy
costs while ensuring food quality. Under the terms of the grant,
Ndustrial will partner with Lineage, ABB and NREL to develop an
AI-based thermal algorithm to help energy-intensive food storage
providers in the cold chain reduce costs while maintaining food
safety. The team estimates this will ultimately unlock a
$1.2 trillion energy cost savings
opportunity.
The model will build on Ndustrial's existing AI-powered process
to deepen data granularity to help safely shift when cold chain
facilities use energy. The insights focus on predicting changes in
food temperature during curtailment events to minimize impact on
the grid and boost cost savings. The project will start at
Lineage's $70M facility serving 14
food companies in Statesville, NC,
and has the potential to unlock intelligent and automated load
management for 60,000+ refrigerated facilities across the US
alone.
"Billions of data points across hundreds of facilities reveal
that we're using too much energy to keep our food cold for no
scientific reason," said Ndustrial co-founder and CTO John Crawford, who is leading the project as
principal investigator. "This grant will help us confirm the ideal
way to safely adjust temperatures in the cold chain to deliver
major savings that can help control food costs. This grant is
especially meaningful to me, as bringing federal funds to my
hometown will support local jobs."
"Lineage's goal is to transform the food supply chain to
eliminate waste and help feed the world," said Alex Woolf, VP of Research and Development at
Lineage. "Ndustrial's platform has proven to help us reduce energy
intensity at facilities by more than 30% – the equivalent of nearly
250,000 homes' annual electricity use — by providing data
visibility, optimizing temperature controls, and shifting
operations to low-cost times where possible. The Ndustrial team is
uniquely positioned to do this work because of their holistic
approach to energy management which accounts for production data,
detailed temperature data, facility energy data, and market signals
all in a common platform."
Part of the Small Business Innovation Research program, the DOE
grant will fund roughly one year of research. A commercialization
period will follow this to help deploy real-time temperature
monitoring and AI-backed energy suggestions at refrigerated
facilities across the world. The National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL) will independently validate the results of the
project and simulate the impacts of deploying the solution in
various grid environments and applications.
Grant awardees will be invited to apply for a Phase 2 award at
the conclusion of this project, which would involve additional
research to support the electrification of Transport Refrigeration
Units, which keep more than 500,000 trailers cold on US roads. ABB
would be involved in providing sustainability advisory services
along with infrastructure support during this phase.
About Ndustrial
Ndustrial provides software and
services to help the $60B industrial
market combat inflation and climate change by optimizing energy
intensity — the crucial metric of energy, emissions and cost
required for one unit of production. By uniting production data
with energy usage for some of the most complex, energy-guzzling
operations in the world, Ndustrial's AI-powered solutions enable
smarter energy decisions in real time. The company has helped
customers like Lineage, ABB and W.L. Gore (makers of Gore-Tex)
avoid over $100M in energy spend to
date. Learn more at ndustrial.io.
URL:
ndustrial.io/doe-grant
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SOURCE Ndustrial