Candi Controls Helps Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency Collect And Manage Big Data, Save On Energy Bills

Unifying platform helps agency get the most out of solar power, energy management systems 

Candi Controls, creator of a breakthrough unifying platform for machine-to-machine communications, announces the successful deployment of a cloud-enabled energy management system for the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency (MRWPCA). Located at the MRWPCA treatment plant near Marina, California, the Candi-based implementation allows the agency to conserve energy and successfully collect and monitor more than 100,000 data points per day.

The effort began after MRWPCA installed a one-million-watt solar array in 2011 to reduce dependency on the electrical grid, but still desired to further reduce its energy costs. MRWPCA staff, working in conjunction with SolarCity and water systems consultant MC Engineering, developed a plan to improve energy efficiency at the plant.

A study by MC Engineering showed that granular monitoring and control of nineteen specific pumps, aeration motors, blowers and lighting processes could further reduce peak energy usage during periods of high demand on the system. However, MRWPCA’s existing SCADA systems were not capable of communicating with or handling the massive amount of data generated from all those new real-time meters and load controls. This created a challenge for the agency: how to work with its existing systems, avoid an expensive investment in an entirely new proprietary monitoring and management system, and minimize headaches involved in installing and maintaining new hardware and software.

The solution was to use Candi’s cloud-based platform to integrate low-cost, off-the-shelf commercial meters and controls that could be easily installed by local personnel. Candi provides a secure, web-standard platform for real-time data acquisition and control of virtually any networked device, allowing MRWPCA to measure, fine-tune and realize energy savings.

“Candi allowed us to avoid costly technology investments, relying on off-the-shelf hardware and their cloud-based solution to realize the energy savings we needed to achieve,” said Tom Kouretas, Engineer and Project Manager, MRWPCA.

“Of several systems options presented to the client, the combination of Candi’s cloud service with readily-available networked devices was chosen as the best blend of features and cost to profile and manage discretionary loads,” said Mark Carey, President of MC Engineering.

“MRWPCA’s combination of Candi with affordable, next-generation networked devices is a great example of how to generate analytics, manage energy use and maximize ROI by leveraging open-standard M2M communications,” said Steve Raschke, President of Candi Controls. “Candi’s unifying platform provides the ability to ‘talk’ to the new monitoring and control devices while avoiding the cost of a traditional proprietary system or new server infrastructure.”

Candi’s cloud-based platform is device and protocol agnostic, creating a plug-and-play framework that allows products and services to integrate and communicate with one another. Candi enables the widest choice of off-the-shelf products and services for energy management and control, while delivering highly granular data back to the enterprise, allowing agencies like the MRWPCA to turn massive streams of data into energy savings.

About Candi Controls
Founded in 2008 by an executive team with decades of experience in device integration and smart grid, Candi’s breakthrough technology reworks machine-to-machine communications from networks down rather than devices up. The company’s unifying platform integrates devices and services, regardless of brand, type or protocol, allowing service providers like utilities, MSOs, telcos and integrators the ability to offer their customers compelling, actionable M2M experiences with mobile applications and enterprise services. For more information, visit www.candicontrols.com.

About MRWPCA
MRWPCA was formed as a joint powers public entity in 1972 to provide regional wastewater collection, treatment and recycling for Pacific Grove, Monterey, Del Rey Oaks, Seaside, Sand City, the former Fort Ord, Castroville, Moss Landing, Boronda, Salinas, Marina and unincorporated areas of northern Monterey County. The recycled water is used for food crop irrigation in the northern Salinas Valley. Reducing the need to pump water from wells is part of the regional effort to slow seawater intrusion. MRWPCA serves approximately 250,000 people. For more information, visit www.mrwpca.org.

About MCE Engineering
MCE Engineering leverages over 20 years’ experience serving the municipal water and wastewater industry, with related expertise in a variety of disciplines including energy, architecture, and transportation related design and construction. For more information, visit www.mcarey-eng.com.