MOSES LAKE — Simplot’s Moses Lake plant reduced its energy consumption by 4 percent with a companywide energy conservation program started one year ago.

The achievement gained the plant the “Simplot Energy Champion” award in a competition against 17 other food processing and fertilizer manufacturing plants, Simplot spokesperson David Cuoio said.  Four of the plants were very close to being number one, he added.

The company is working to cut down its energy use by 25 percent over the next 10 years.

The company preferred not to release the costs associated with increasing energy efficiency, he stated.

“However, I can say that we believe any such costs are returned to us many times by increases in productivity and reductions in energy costs,” Cuoio explained.

The plant uses about 8 megawatts of power annually, said Jeff Breiling, the Moses Lake plant’s boiler refrigeration maintenance supervisor.

Cuoio said it’s his understanding the top three plants were very close in the amount of energy saved throughout the year.

Breiling said the company started the energy savings program to reduce energy consumption.

He said the benefits of the program include cost savings, keeping the company competitive in the market and being socially responsible.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Breiling noted.

The plant achieved its 4 percent reduction by completing heat recovery projects and by giving energy presentations to employees about cost saving measures.

One of the presentations even included covering the importance of closing the cold storage door at the plant, he explained.

A presentation was also done on appropriate versus inappropriate uses of compressed air, which is used  in many of the plant’s process, Breiling noted.

The compressed air training was developed by the Industrial Efficiency Alliance, he said.

A leak tag program was kicked off this year, which entailed identifying a water, stream or air leak and making sure it’s repaired, he said.

The company’s dryer, granule plant and heat recovery coming off fryers was targeting during workshops presented by the US Department of Energy (DOE) in Boise, Breiling said.

He mentioned Grant County PUD was very helpful in guiding the company through energy conservation.

“This represents a significant step toward achieving our goal of reducing energy intensity by 25 percent in the next 10 years,” stated Simplot President/CEO Larry Hlobik. “Congratulations to the Moses Lake employees for this accomplishment. They there have set a great example for all our operations to follow.”

Simplot’s Energy Purchasing Manager Don Sturtevant stated the company will bring similar DOE workshops to other plants in 2009.