Energy Reliability

Key Factors That Impact Energy Reliability

Grid Stability

Electric grids are increasingly strained by rising demand and new generation coming online, and the International Energy Agency has found that grids are not keeping pace with the new global energy economy. Grid instability can lead to blackouts, voltage sags, or frequency variations, which threaten energy reliability for industrial users. As facilities add electrified equipment, that instability becomes more consequential, as additional electric load adds pressure to infrastructure that’s already stretched thin during peak periods.

Skyven’s Arcturus industrial heat pump addresses this by running in parallel with a facility’s existing steam boilers rather than replacing them, adding a second source of steam for the facility. Arcturus’s controls monitor grid conditions and energy prices in real time, and can rapidly switch steam production back to existing boilers when electricity prices spike or the grid is under stress. This also enables Arcturus to be enrolled in demand response programs, providing additional economic benefit without impacting production.

Energy Source Flexibility

Depending on a single energy source exposes a facility to that source’s price swings. Natural gas prices in particular can move sharply due to weather, supply disruptions, or geopolitical events, and a facility with no alternative fuel has no way to avoid passing those swings straight through to its operating costs.

Arcturus’s ability to switch between electricity and a facility’s existing boilers, described above, protects against this kind of price exposure the same way it protects against grid instability, without requiring a separate investment in storage or backup generation.

Equipment Reliability

Boilers are mechanical equipment, which requires regular maintenance and repair. Beyond that, a boiler failure or forced outage can halt production entirely if it’s the facility’s only source of steam.

Arcturus reduces this risk the same way it addresses grid and fuel exposure: by giving the facility a second, independent source of steam. If a boiler goes down for repair, Arcturus can continue supplying steam, and if Arcturus needs service, the existing boiler is still there to run.

Why Is Energy Reliability Important for Industrial Operations?

For industrial facilities, energy reliability is imperative. Even brief interruptions can cost thousands or millions in lost production, damaged equipment, and delayed shipments. The costs of downtime in manufacturing can range from $500,000 per hour in the oil and gas industry to upwards of $2 million per hour or more in other industries, according to a Siemens report.

Industries such as ethanol, chemicals, and food and beverage processing depend on continuous energy to operate high-load equipment and maintain tight process tolerances. In these settings, the link between energy reliability and operational efficiency is direct and profound.

Moreover, unreliable energy supply increases energy costs and emissions. Backup systems, often powered by diesel generators, are carbon-intensive and expensive to maintain. A more reliable energy infrastructure reduces both environmental impact and operating expenses.

How to Improve Energy Reliability

The most direct way to improve energy reliability is to add a second, independent source of steam. Skyven Arcturus runs in parallel with a facility’s existing boilers, ensuring uninterrupted steam production to support ongoing operations with zero downtime.

A Second Source of Steam

Arcturus doesn’t replace a facility’s boilers, it runs alongside them. If a boiler goes down for repair or the grid becomes unreliable, the facility still has steam. If Arcturus needs service, the boiler is still there to run.

Automated Grid Response

Arcturus’s controls monitor electricity and natural gas prices and grid conditions in real time, automatically switching steam production to whichever source is more economical at that moment, with no manual intervention required. The same controls allow Arcturus to enroll in demand response programs for additional savings.

This flexibility also lets Arcturus take advantage of a changing generation mix, running on electricity when renewable output or baseload generation makes it abundant, and switching to a facility’s boilers when it isn’t, without adding strain to an already-tight grid.

Less Strain Than Storage or Grid-Interactive Boilers

Thermal energy storage and grid-interactive electric boilers can also shift electricity use to cheaper hours, but neither reduces the total energy needed to generate steam, and concentrating that draw into fewer hours can require significant electrical capacity. Arcturus’s high coefficient of performance (COP) reduces the electrical capacity to deliver the same amount of steam. For facilities that already have or are planning a TES system, Arcturus can run alongside it as well, using recovered heat to generate steam directly while TES handles load-shifting elsewhere in the facility.

How Skyven is Supporting Energy Reliability in Industrial Sectors

Skyven designed the Arcturus industrial high-temperature heat pump to address the grid, price, and equipment risks described above, while lowering a facility’s steam costs.

Arcturus gives a facility a second, independent source of steam. It runs in parallel with existing boilers rather than replacing them, so a boiler outage, a grid disruption, or maintenance never leaves a facility without steam.

Arcturus also responds to the grid automatically. Its controls monitor electricity prices, natural gas prices, and grid conditions in real time, switching between sources with no manual input required.

That flexibility puts less strain on the grid than storage or grid-interactive boilers. Arcturus can produce the same steam using up to 8 times less electricity than an electric boiler, so it needs less electrical capacity to deliver the same result. Learn more about how coefficient of performance (COP) drives this efficiency.

Arcturus delivers:

• A second, independent source of steam, reducing exposure to grid instability, equipment failure, and single-fuel price volatility
• Automated, real-time switching between electricity and existing fuel sources, with no manual intervention required
• Lower electrical capacity requirements than storage or grid-interactive electric boilers, due to its high COP
• Cost savings and reduced carbon pricing exposure from running on electricity when it’s most economical