JSE-listed retail group Massmart will install a further 150 building management systems (BMSs) at its stores in South Africa over the next year and a half, with more than 155 BMSs already installed at some of its stores.

The company has partnered with BMS specialist company Green Wave Group and industrial technology multinational Schneider Electric for an installation of BMS solutions at its stores across South Africa.

"Massmart is already on target to achieve annualised energy savings of at least R15-million in 2022, recouping its entire investment within 12 months," the company adds.

The Schneider Electric EcoStruxure Building Operation (EBO) BMS system is currently being installed at Massmart-owned retail chains Makro, Game and Builders Warehouse, as well as at Massmart distribution centres throughout the country.

“Massmart started an integrated programme to improve the efficiency and control of our buildings in 2020. This included an energy awareness programme for our store operators, a utilities management department, using the Schneider Power Monitoring system (PME), and a technical bureau using the Schneider EBO BMS system installed by our systems partner Green Wave,” explains Massmart facilities GM Colin Gayton.

Prior to the BMS project rollout, Massmart required an infrastructure that could provide a centralised view of its retail stores that offer alarm monitoring, alarm reporting, energy reporting, energy billing cost comparison, energy saving opportunities and better local control of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and electrical systems from one solution, he adds.

Green Wave and Schneider Electric proposed the EBO BMS architecture and solution that, at its core, offers an integrated BMS system that delivers the actionable insights needed to better manage and optimise buildings, improve engineering efficiency, and meet cybersecurity needs, Massmart states.

Massmart now benefits from a centralised view of all its retail stores, centralised control of their HVAC and electrical systems at a store level and centralised alarm management, reducing ongoing maintenance costs.

It also benefits from energy savings, as a result of the local control of the HVAC and electrical systems, which allows for detailed energy billing tariff opsonisation and, therefore, the ability to compare tariff costs per store.

The company also benefits from alarm and energy dashboards.

“EcoStruxure Building Operation is an open and secure building management platform that integrates multiple systems for centralised, real-time control and management across one-to-many enterprise buildings. The platform natively supports standard open protocols out-of-the-box,” says Schneider Electric digital energy lead Thabang Byl.

“The Schneider Electric EBO BMS system installed at each retail store, for example, provides local control over HVAC and lighting systems, ensuring that systems are only on when needed,” says Green Wave group director Nigel Armstrong.

“It also provides detailed insights on critical equipment like generators, uninterruptible power supplies, fire and security systems and water systems to name a few that contribute data collection and alarm reporting. Further, the EBO enterprise server and PME running on Massmart’s cloud service allow the group to centralise its retail stories into view,” he adds.

“[Massmart's] BMS controls and monitors the operation of all electro-mechanical equipment resulting in not just energy savings, but also maintenance costs, as real-time monitoring enables us to increase physical maintenance intervals, providing net savings in 2022 of R1.5-million.

“The BMS also contributes greatly to reducing equipment downtime. The BMS is now installed in 155 stores across the group, with a rollout to a further 75 stores in 2022, and a similar number in 2023,” Massmart says.