Page 169 - CW E-Magazine (19-11-2024)

News from Abroad

MICROGRID MANAGEMENT
Aspen Technology’s new system to help address

power reliability and meet net-zero goals

Industrial software specialist, Aspen structure, more severe weather events than 400 global utilities,” said Ms. Sally
Technology, has introduced the ‘Microgrid and increasing cybersecurity threats chal- Jacquemin, Vice President of Power and
Management System’ (MMS), a solution lenging its reliability and stability. As a Utilities at AspenTech.
for customers with heavy electrical power result, industrial and commercial energy
requirements in refi ning, chemicals, min- consumers are increasingly at risk for The new system provides enhanced
ing and other asset-intensive industries extended power outages, limitations in power reliability with active, real-time
that manage their own on-site conventional power consumption, and inability to meet management of power generation re-
and renewable power generation in orche- renewable energy goals, all of which sources, including renewable energy and
stration with active load management and have cascading production and business storage, improved situational awareness
energy storage. Based on the company’s impact, including delayed restarts, envi- to maximise return on investment and
OSI monarch SCADA platform, the solu- ronmental penalties, reduced supply and enhanced cybersecurity to protect all
tion helps maximise operational perfor- increased end user costs. critical loads. The solution also features
mance and accelerate net-zero goals. a robust Industrial AI approach capable
“AspenTech’s new microgrid solu- of forecasting power consumption and
The capabilities delivered by Aspen- tion reduces energy vulnerability and renewable generation up to 35 days in
Tech MMS are critical to high-energy business risk by bringing innovation the future, enabling scheduling and opti-
consumers today as the power grid is at to asset-intensive industries based on misation algorithms to maximize the use
a critical juncture with increasing energy decades of electric utility control and of generation resources while minimising
demand, aging and at-capacity grid infra- automation experience gained at more emissions and electricity costs.
Alpek to cease production at EPS facility in US

Mexican petrochemicals fi rm,
Alpek, has announced plans to cease
production at the Expandable Polystyrene
(EPS) facility in Beaver Valley in
Monaca, Pennsylvania by January 2025.
The facility is operated by Styropek.

The site was built in the 1940s,
acquired by the company in 2020,
with an installed nominal capacity of
123,000 tons of EPS, and represents
less than 2% of Alpek’s total assets.
The company will transfer most of its
EPS production to its other facilities.

A tentative closure of the plant was
fi rst announced in August, with offi cials
from Styropek noting that production
of several products made at the Beaver “When we purchased the Beaver our roughly four years of operations, the
County location would be discontinued. Valley facility in October 2020, Styropek industry has continued to evolve and the
Other product lines manufactured at the knew it was an acquisition of an age- economics of the current market, paired
facility were also announced to move to ing facility,” said Mr. Andreas Plettner, with our long-term goals and sustain-
facilities that were “better positioned to Styropek CEO. “While we made progress ability initiatives, make continued invest-
support future business needs”. in better operationalising the plant during ment increasingly diffi cult.”

Chemical Weekly November 19, 2024 169

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