Southern California Edison recently presented a $1.85 million check – one of its largest incentive rebates to date – to pioneers at the TowerJazz plant in Newport Beach, California. TowerJazz collaborated with Trane® to complete energy-saving upgrades at the facility, which reduced peak energy demand at the circuit-manufacturing plant by more than 1.3 megawatts, saving about 12.5 million kilowatt hours annually.
This is equivalent to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from 2,000 cars. The project focused on modernizing TowerJazz’s chiller plant and replacing aging and outdated equipment.
Energy conservation measures
The plant has more than 800 employees and fabricates 200-millimeter wafers (silicon material used in electronics for the manufacture of integrated circuits), in markets such as consumer, industrial, automotive, medical and aerospace and defense. Completed in November 2017, the upgrades reduced heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) energy use by nearly 50 percent while improving the manufacturing and working environment.
The Trane and TowerJazz project teams used energy modeling to identify the best solutions for the facility
The plant, previously the organization’s second-to-worst energy user, is now the second most efficient energy user. Before selecting energy conservation measures, the Trane and TowerJazz project teams used energy modeling to identify the best solutions for the facility. The Trane team worked carefully with personnel from various groups at the plant including facilities management, corporate finance and HVAC shop personnel to align all the stakeholders’ goals.
Chiller plant optimization
Since the facility operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Trane developed a detailed implementation plan to minimize any impact on the manufacturing environment. During the upgrade, the project team added four new chillers, updated chiller plant optimization controls and upgraded the condensing water pump motors to help ensure that the building runs at peak performance.
“Because so many stakeholders were engaged, it’s been exciting to see the positive impact these improvements contributed to the overall environment,” said Jerry Kelley, Facilities Director at TowerJazz. “This project proved a true ‘win-win’ for TowerJazz,” said Michael Day, Utility Markets Leader for Trane. “They created a better environment for both employees and manufacturing – all while significantly cutting energy costs.”
