PROGRESS IN SUSTAINABILITY
“In the last few years, sustainability and energy efficiency have developed into real drivers of innovation and profitability. As the share of energy consumption in the total cost of company activities continues to increase, monitoring and reduction initiatives gain importance”, says Geert Stienen, CEO of Agidens. Not only has energy awareness established itself in the corporate mindset, but the tools to gain insight into energy consumption have advanced dramatically as well, driven by global digitalization. With those tools, companies are now taking efficient and substantiated energy-saving measures, leading to both financial and environmental benefits.
With a specialized team of energy and sustainability consultants, Agidens provides energy audits, optimization and energy management services for a wide range of industries. Thorough analysis of energy consumption and processes results in specific solutions to reduce the total cost of ownership, increase the reliability of installations, and lower the environmental impact of activities. To further extend its energy service offering, Agidens has acquired full ownership of Argus Technologies. This acquisition confirms the company’s drive for innovation and commitment to be a premium energy, sustainability and system integration partner.
ARGUS-EYED ENERGY MONITORING
Argus Technologies was founded in 2012, as a spin-off of ‘Argus Solar’, a renewable energy research project at the University of Ghent. Initially focused on monitoring energy production from wind and solar photovoltaic installations, by 2014 the Argus team was facing an imploding PV market, following the substantial reduction of government incentives for renewable energy. Not fazed by this set-back, Argus redirected its focus from energy production to energy consumption, for which it had identified increasing interest and market potential. With extended research and several use cases as valuable input, the team continued the development it had started with its PowerMonitor software for renewable energy. Today, its flagship product, EnergyMonitor, has established itself as an advanced yet user-friendly energy monitoring system that can be applied in a wide range of industries.
Data is knowledge, and knowledge is the key to efficiency and effectiveness. For that reason, the Argus platform was developed from the start to be hardware agnostic, and to be compatible with a vast variety of data sources. The Argus EnergyMonitor is a cloud-based SaaS solution for data capturing, analysis, visualization, notification and reporting related to energy consumption.
So, like the Argus giant in Greek mythology, this tool will not leave one insight unnoticed…
AUTOMATED SOLUTIONS SPECIALIST
Agidens is best known for its expertise in optimizing and automating various industrial processes. The Argus Platform is an ideal addition to these automation solutions. Based on the available energy data, advanced rules for analysis and actions can be pre-configured. These rules generate automated alert messages, for instance in case of a sudden increase of energy consumption or in case of unexpected events. Reporting can be fully automated and manual analyses become a thing of the past. Customers will also benefit from detailed insight into the energy consumption of an individual process or production line and its relation to the process output. With an expertise in process optimization and automation, Agidens can then evaluate the outcome and make suggestions for optimization.
ONE-STOP ENERGY MANAGEMENT SHOP
Geert Stienen sees the acquisition of Argus Technologies as part of both the company’s drive for innovation as well as its support of the start-up community. “With the introduction of the Argus platform, Agidens further strengthens its promise to bring progress to its customers.”
“By acquiring Argus Technologies, Agidens can now act as a one-stop-shop for all energy management solutions. Our consults can deliver initial insights through energy audits, offer advice on energy efficiency improvements and develop an energy monitoring concept. Agidens can also take care of hardware installations (such as additional meters, sensors, data loggers etc.) and safe connections to existing data sources such as process control systems. Together with Argus Technologies, Agidens is committed to saving our customers money, along with saving the environment, through energy efficiency.”
