River Ranch Fresh Foods, Inc., El Centro, CA
Energy Efficiency Study
 Situation:
River Ranch Fresh Foods, Inc. located in El Centro California, is a 66,075 square foot cold storage facility that handles approximately 2.4 million cases of commodity products (broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, and mixed leaf vegetables) per year. They also store approximately 4.7 million cases of pre-cut salad mix. Since River Ranch’s refrigerated warehouse needs to be kept at a constant 36oF, their main goal was to find the most cost-effective ways to reduce overall energy consumption and operating costs.
Solution:
After a thorough site inspection, conducting interviews with key on-site personnel, and the review of utility records, Lincus’ addressed River Ranch’s objectives by:
- Evaluating any potential energy-efficiency and demand-reduction opportunities that could be obtained.
- Evaluating all energy cost-reducing measures.
- Estimating preliminary capital investment costs and potential savings from those measures.
- Performing a complete financial assessment for the implementation of measures that would establish simple payback periods, net present value and the internal rate of return for the total investment.
After this preliminary review was complete, Lincus’ was able to recommend to River Ranch the following energy savings measures:
- Monitor suction line refrigerator filters
- Monitor refrigerant charge
- Convert to automatic defrost cycle
- Premium efficiency motors
- Install VFDs on evaporative condenser fans
- Install floating head pressure controls
- Install lighting upgrades
By implementing these measures, River Ranch reduced its annual energy costs by 22% ($53,600.) Over a 10-year investment horizon, this analysis showed that the Net Present Value (NPV) of the suggested EEMs is $179,944 with 28.3% internal return (IRR).
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