BFSI

Racanaa Energy deployed its EI & EA services for this Indian BFSI company in the first quarter of 2020. Upon analyzing the data derived from pre and post COVID scenarios, Racanaa noticed discrepancies in their standard operating procedures (SOPs) when it came to energy efficiency. This disparity was observed despite the prevalence of higher footfall and energy consumption before COVID than after. In addition, the increased demand for digital banking, fixed rent, and rising energy & operational costs worsened their financial woes. Another major challenge encountered was the limited control and visibility of energy usage & a misallocation of energy resources required to efficiently optimize operations network-wide.

Despite these challenges, the BFSI company was intent on reducing their energy and carbon footprint. Racanaa Energy implemented a seamless plan for their network of bank branches to help them run a lean operation, optimize energy efficiency, and meet their Net Zero objectives.

Client Profile

One of India’s leading BFSI companies with a network of more than 5,000 branches and
14,000 ATMs across the nation. Some of the key challenges Racanaa addressed was:

1. Coping with the rising cost of energy by implementing suitable control measures.

2. Generating actionable insights through a centralized & controlled platform.

3. Managing operations despite the increase in maintenance and repair costs.

4. Introducing measures to monitor energy asset health.

5. Lowering energy wastage and leakages.

6. Ensuring safety and risk compliance along with adherence to standard operating practices

7. Systematically allocating resources for optimal energy management

8. Meeting the Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) goals set by the organization
This case study is based on the operations of 5 of the client’s bank branches across India, includes the scope of the challenges solved and outlines the steps needed to set up realistic roadmaps to achieve the desired sustainable outcomes.

Approach

Racanaa Energy worked with the BFSI company to propose a structured approach that could take them from their current condition to becoming carbon Net-Zero offices over a period of 3 years while overcoming their challenges.

This case study addresses the first two aspects of the approach – Energy Awareness and Energy Optimization.

Before implementing any major transformation or change in the electrical setup, we first ascertained the where, how, and why of their electricity consumption. Energy Awareness is the most essential first step to establishing Net Zero facilities.

Energy Awareness lays out the granular data related to the operation of each asset and the environment in which it is operating. We analyze this to detect energy leakages and determine the correlation between operating processes and energy consumption. Energy Optimization is the process through which we eliminate leakages and automate processes to ensure consistent operation.

What We Achieved

Our solution focused on resource optimization, asset health monitoring, safety assurance,
and sustainability compliance without affecting customer experience. Our findings are
illustrated below:

• We identified a significant difference between the actual and billed electricity consumption. The difference ranged from 6% to 23% in a few branches. Asset automation significantly reduced these differences based on Racanaa’s energy meter reading.

• Control logic & measures were implemented on the banks’ centralized air conditioning systems. In one of the branches, the results from the control logic application suggested that their second air-conditioning system was redundant because it ran for less than 3% within a month on average. This service resulted in a 13% realization of energy saving for the branch and improved the energy assets’ temperature profile.

• Despite having standard operating practices (especially, in terms of lighting and air conditioning) issued by the company, the HVAC equipment in most of the branches showcased deviations from them. Meanwhile, multiple HVAC systems also displayed similar variations in their consumption and running hours. By synchronizing multiple HVAC systems to specific control logic measures we helped reduce the individual operational burden on the HVAC system thereby increasing asset life.

• When automation was provided, the ability to eliminate human error and automate the process resulted in consistent operations and reduced energy consumption. It also assisted in enhancing operational efficiency with a centralized overview of energy usage. Racanaa’s AI interface ensured that our customer’s team could easily understand and monitor operational anomalies, energy profiles and thermal compliances.

• Our solution provided them with the ability to identify any non-compliance in their existing processes through alerts, which also improved employee and customer comfort.

• We identified that all the client’s bank branches had a common energy performance index (EPI) of 1.23 to 2, which is higher than the industry standard of 1 as per Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC). After adopting Racanaa’s EI & EA services, their EPI was reduced to a range of 0.78 to 0.87, which indicates more efficient energy consumption and a lower carbon footprint. The secondary benefits of our services were significant improvement on the revenue/unit of energy consumed, sustainability & ESG compliance on a corporate level, and
practices that are on par with industry peers and competitors.

Racanaa Energy’s solution helped the BFSI company go beyond their current landscape of “Energy Savings Commitment” by enabling optimization of their resources & SOPs. The by-product of these efforts was reduced energy consumption and a lower carbon footprint.

Discussions are currently underway to set them on a path towards achieving Net-Zero facility operations by preparing a digital twin of their entire network and advising them on how to implement renewable energy and storage at suitable branches.

Why Racanaa Energy?

The market has several players who promise energy savings by charging a fee that amounts to a share of it. Although this model sounds promising, it is fraught with challenges:

1. It strains the relationship between the service provider and the store when it comes to how much energy was saved and what were the real reasons for reduced energy.

2. It complicates the process of balancing monthly bills which leads to conflict.

3. The service provider often monopolizes authority on their energy savings approach which excludes the store from truly participating and understanding how it works. Racanaa Energy believes that any process employed should focus on optimizing operations which will lead to energy conservation, consistency of customer experience, enhanced electrical safety, better resource utilization, improved return on investment in assets and of course reduced energy and a lower carbon footprint. It is imperative that the relationship with each store is a partnership of discovery with a focus on eliminating leakages and energy efficiency.

Pindera our proprietary technology platform provides the tools for collaboration along with the ability to analyse data, drive hardware improvements and provide a real-time dashboard and alerts. Pindera was developed by experts in energy management who  have had working experience in leading research labs and industries worldwide, with execution expertise in deploying and managing thousands of sites across a wide geographical range.

If you are interested in partnering with Racanaa Energy and wish to work towards a Net Zero facility with a scientifically validated technical approach led by energy management experts, please reach out to us.