zedas®cargo optimises traction power

26-01-2015

Many railway operating companies are struggling with the rising costs of traction power. A legitimate means to reduce costs can be to switch to a cheaper energy supplier. Cost-effective purchasing and supply management, however, requires the most accurate data possible for the new supplier, detailing the predicted power requirement in a daily load curve.

Energy management with zedas®cargo

The logistics management software zedas®cargo supports the planning of locomotive round trips for long-haul traffic. The associated energy requirements are documented on the system for each tour. For the respective year, a forecast of consumption costs and back charges can be calculated to facilitate the purchase of traction power on the market. The forecast with improved accuracy for the following day, or the following month, can be forwarded to the energy suppliers. The purchase risks on the spot market remain manageable by virtue of the precise planning.

The new additional functionality energy management of the zedas®cargo software suite supports railway operating companies with the production of well-informed requirement forecasts of the expected energy consumption and of the reimbursements from energy fed back into the grid.

The basic information comes from the traction data (locomotive, circuit, times), the ordered or upgraded tonnage, the power use – possibly with reimbursed back charges – and also from the data from the energy supply contracts. Within the context of specific consumption profiles (daily load curves), the information is processed and displayed to the user. The calculation of the load profiles includes the division of each traction period into intervals, the assignment of the corresponding range and tonnages, and the consumption/back charges forecast.

The aim is to achieve an ever closer alignment between the forecasted and the actual daily load curve in order to minimise the differences within the final-adjustments electricity bill. The use of an integrated energy management as part of zedas®cargo logistics management results in precise data for power consumption and back charges, enabling optimal cost planning while safeguarding energy needs.

Get more Information about our solution zedas®cargo for logistics here.