Leerdam Crisal Glass electrifies with QING

About LC Glass

Leerdam Crystal Glass is one of the largest manufacturers of glass tableware in Europe, with a history that dates back to 1765. The company designs, produces and sells high-quality glassware under the renowned brands Royal Leerdam and Onis.

A complex issue

LC Glass wants to become more sustainable and therefore needs so-called “”electric boosting” add to their ovens. What exactly is that? The biggest energy guzzler in glass production is the oven. That oven was heated with gas. Well, the oven can also be heated with electrical elements, and that's what we call boosting. This boosting ensures lower emissions.

However, boosting turned out to be difficult because expanding their electrical capacity was not possible due to the shortages on the grid. LC Glass is also experiencing the effects of grid congestion. In addition, they are dealing with other parties within their closed distribution system (GDS, a shared electricity connection).

Joining hands

‍Our shared goal was to identify and develop solution options. The required result: boosting as much as possible apply until network reinforcements have been applied.

The Qing's approach

Prior to the process, it was clear to LC Glass what to expect. Both what QING would carry out and deliver, but also some action points from LC Glass, such as providing QING with the right data. In this way, we continue to work quickly and effectively throughout the project, and we run no delay on. That's how QING works.

The process went as follows:

1. Company visit and assay of the production process.
2. Collecting information: energy consumption data, technical specifications, machinery, etc.
3. Data analysis and -visualization to identify peaks.
4. Provide input for discussions between parties within GDS.
5. Frequent coordination with the client about progress and results.

We were soon able to find patterns in average daily consumption. For example, we quickly came to the conclusion that most of the time, a large amount of theoretically available power was free to use. The images below show what these results looked like for the customer.

Identified solutions provide direction

QING found several solutions to the issue of LC Glass. Here are the key points:

• Prevent peak loads through demand shifting (demand control).
• Non-firm capacity for extra boosting throughout the night.
• Rooftop solar system to reduce the load on the connection and reduce peak grid demand.
• Energy storage (with batteries) to make maximum use of the connection without exceeding (joint) contract capacity.

Concrete next steps for LC Glass

Thanks to QING's analyses, LC Glass now has insight into the remaining capacity of their connection. They have a concrete list of solution directions and advice for next steps.

Is your company in a similar situation? Do you want to electrify efficiently, or are you running into grid congestion problems?