Electric energy consumption of an accelerator facility

Abstract

The changes of the German electricity system approaching a high share of renewable electricity production (80% by 2050) leads to a cost increase of electrical energy. This alters the basic conditions for big industrial consumers of electric energy. Fundamental research facilities, especially accelerator facilities (here GSI) have to develop innovative concepts for a more efficient use of electric energy in order to reduce running costs. A major part of the running costs is caused by the electric energy consumption. One of the main aspects of this development is the breakdown of electric energy consumption into consumer groups. To start this process we analyze the load curves of the last three years and identify periodic patterns, employee consumption, base load and energy consumption of different operational modes of the accelerator facility. First results point out a high base load, which is equal to about 40% of consumed energy and a high amount of peak load over a short time period, both could possibly be reduced in the future. The research, analysis and interpretation breaks down the large energy consumption, which averages to about 55GWh per year.