Helping CERN save energy as it probes the mysteries of the universe

The quest to better understand the very stuff from which the universe is made is what led to the founding of CERN – the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire – in 1954.

On two sites, one in France, one in Switzerland, either side of the Franco-Swiss border, CERN’s search has grown to encompass objects of scientific wonder such as the Large Hadron Collider.

It’s the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, stretching 27km underground in a circular tunnel between France and Switzerland, demanding large amounts of electrical power.

CERN’s own figures¹ state that its total activities consume 1.3 TeraWatt hours of electricity annually – enough to power 300,000 homes for a year – sourced from a French substation 35km from the CERN campus.   

In order to reduce overall levels of demand, ABB and CERN collaborated on an energy efficiency audit over 2022-23 that identified potential energy savings equivalent to the power used by more than 18,000 European households.²  The strategic research partnership focused on CERN’s cooling and ventilation system, helping to identify a savings potential of 17.4 percent across a fleet of 800 motors.

Those savings could be made via reductions in the energy consumption of CERN’s cooling and ventilation system, based on the audit data. They would be equivalent to 31 gigawatt-hours (GWh) annually, or enough to avoid  four kilotonnes of CO2 emissions³ – the same as planting more than 420,000 trees⁴.

Energy efficiency audits work by evaluating the performance and efficiency of motors based on their operational data. They help large facilities such as CERN, which employs 2,500 permanent staff on site, to identify the most significant energy saving opportunities across fleets of motors.

In this instance, CERN and ABB assessed data from motors in multiple cooling and ventilation applications. Teams then combined data from numerous sources, including digitally connected motors, CERN’s control systems and data gathered directly from their pumps, piping, and instrumentation. Subsequent analysis provided the insights necessary to pinpoint which existing motors were most suitable for energy efficiency upgrades.

CERN’s next step is to create a roadmap for the upgrade of the first motors to the solutions recommended as part of the energy efficiency audit: IE5-rated Synchronous Reluctance Motors (SynRM) operating with variable speed drives (VSDs). 

These motors will also be digitally connected, enabling condition monitoring solutions to accurately monitor their health and performance to ensure maximum uptime. It is anticipated that this investment in more energy-efficient solutions will be paid back in less than two years.

ABB and CERN will publish lessons learned about their research method for the interest of other big science and industrial sites, helping to share knowledge of how even the most advanced facilities can be adapted to outrun – leaner and cleaner.

Sources:

1. Cern Homepage

2. Eurostat

3. Electricitymaps.com

4. Onetreeplated.org

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