A Case Study

Client:Occidental Resorts

Verification:Energy Data from 4 largest Facilities

Type:Sub-metering, temperature, occupancy, door switch sensors

Savings:Y1 direct on-bill savings of $522,000 and 2.9M kWh

There is no doubt that the XCaret natural theme park is one of the most iconic and beautiful destinations in the world.

The Grand XCaret Resort is the flagship property, and Latin headquarters of the Occidental Group. Located the Riviera Maya, it sits amidst wild jungles and pyramids of ancient civilizations. Overall the Group owns and manages 13 all-inclusive, luxury and resort hotel properties across Latin America and The Caribbean, including the Grand XCaret.

The Group installed energy sub-metering using Conectric’s sensors at the Grand XCaret Resort and used Occupancy, Proximity and Temperature sensors in 3,100 guestrooms across 8 facilities, to control HVAC energy costs. The results speak for themselves.



Problems Solved

High Energy Costs

Malfunctioning Fancoil Actuators

Uncontrolled AC Operation

Poor Chiller Management

The Occidental Group was able to substantially reduce energy expenses while getting better control of their facilities.

Energy had traditionally been one of the Groups highest expenses, spurred by high energy costs in emerging countries, and even bigger demands on guestroom air conditioning. Occidental's properties all have fancoil type AC systems, with Trane centralized or roof top 4 stage chillers. Zone controls are standard Honeywell 110V mechanical rotary type thermostats, with no automatic functions.

The Solution

Using sensors installed in fancoil air discharge vents, we discovered that a large number of cooling valves were stuck open when actuator motors broke, and were not being replaced. Due to the manual thermostats most fancoils were literally running 24 hours per day. By installing sub-metering on individual rooftop chillers, we were able to demonstrate to management that due to a lack of in-building control, maintenance staff were controlling building temperature by manually shutting off chiller compressor stages in the morning and afternoon by literally tripping the circuit breakers! This bypassed the expensive Trane automatic chiller controls, which saw constant demand due to the frozen actuators and mechanical thermostats and had been continuously been running on all stages. In addition to technical issues, the hotel executives struggled with sourcing enough capital to introduce new energy savings initiatives.

Armed with hard data about how poorly systems were really operating, hotel executives could quantify how much it was costing them. As it turns out, millions of dollars was being lost into thin air. Where other solutions would have left them with nothing else to do, the scalability of Conectric’s offer allowed the addition of more sensors that ultimately produced direct savings.

The hotels were able to add Conectric Optic Occupancy and Portal Door Proximity sensors. Integrated with the thermostat, shut off controls can now prevent hotel rooms from cooling while balcony doors were left open, or guests are out of their rooms enjoying the resort. After a 12-month study across 4 resorts, it was found that this solution was saving millions of kWh’s, and ultimately leading to a more comfortable guest environment and reduced maintenance requirements.

The Results

During the first year of operation substantial direct kWh reductions were seen on Occidental’s utility billing. Four of the hotels saw a combined 2,860,000 kWh reduction with a cost savings of $522,000.

Grand Aruba Savings

$107k

Avg. Energy Cost USD/kWh

$.29/kWh

Royal Hideaway Savings

$91k

Avg. Energy Cost USD/kWh

$.11/kWh

Punta Cana Savings

$190k

Avg. Energy Cost USD/kWh

$.30/kWh

Grand XCaret Savings

$132k

Avg. Energy Cost USD/kWh

$.13/kWh

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