Our Industrial Services team helps manufacturers adopt efficient technologies, productivity improvements, and best practices by integrating and customizing products and services. Our engineering team provides technical assistance, assessments, training, and project planning to clients in Washington, across the country, and around the world.

Our program managers provide national leadership by co-chairing the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) State Energy Efficiency Action Network. We work closely with partners and stakeholders to deliver federal programs and establish long-term industrial energy efficiency programs that meet the needs of the Northwest Power Plan. We also partner with DOE, northwest industry associations, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to plan and deliver a regional industrial training strategy that promotes efficiency and corporate energy management.

In 2010, our Industrial Services program was recognized as an “exemplary state energy efficiency program” by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

Projects

Industrial Engineering/Plant Assessments

Our engineering team delivers consultations, training, and in-plant services ranging from informal walk-throughs to in-depth plant assessments focused on one or more energy systems. Our team has performed energy assessments at scores of facilities, including military bases; industrial plants; and food processing, forest product, glass, and chemical manufacturing facilities.

We have in-depth experience with processing systems such as steam, motors, compressed air, process heating, fans, pumping and refrigeration, waste heat recovery, combined heat and power, corporate energy management, district energy, biofuels, materials handling, and lighting and building envelope efficiency.

We also conduct detailed reviews of energy optimization studies on some of the largest industrial plants in North America.

Industrial Trainings

Our industrial team coordinates custom training for plant operators and industrial equipment specialists. We also work with regional and national training providers to review curriculum and deliver world-class training to enhance energy and process efficiencies.

Our trainers include U.S. DOE Qualified Specialists with expertise in compressed air, fans, process heating, pumping, steam, and motor systems. We have led workshops on energy management of motor-driven systems throughout the U.S., Europe, South America, Guam, and the Caribbean. These workshops provide hands-on sessions using MotorMaster+ software.

We offer customized training with immediate on-site applications to support specific projects. Contact the industrial team to plan a training session or to be added to our training mailing list.

CHP Technical Assistance Partnership - Northwest

This five-state center, headquartered at the WSU Energy Program, promotes combined heat and power (CHP), waste heat recovery, and other clean energy technologies and practices for industrial and commercial facilities. Case studies, fact sheets, and other resources are available at the CHP Technical Assistance Partnership - Northwest website.

January 1, 2024: The CHP Technical Assistance Partnership has ended. The U.S. Department of Energy has replaced this program with the Onsite Energy Technical Assistance Partnerships program, which continues to provide technical assistance for CHP projects, as well as other onsite technologies. For more information visit the U.S. DOE’s Onsite Energy Program website.

Emerging Technologies

The WSU Energy Program reviews and assesses merging technologies in the industrial field. Since 1997, we have provided a centralized Product and Technology Review to Northwest utilities for NEEA. During development of the Sixth Northwest Power Plan, we evaluated new and emerging technologies for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

We assist BPA’s Emerging Technologies for Energy Efficiency (E3T) Program to assess innovative, energy-efficient technologies that could save electric energy but lack a foothold in the Northwest marketplace. As part of this program, we implemented a comprehensive process to identify, assess, peer review, and document the technologies’ technical and market potential.

Northwest Onsite Energy Technical Assistance Partnership

This four-state center, headquartered at the WSU Energy Program, provides no-cost technical assistance for industrial facilities considering onsite energy projects. The Northwest Onsite Energy TAP can advise on a wide array of onsite energy technologies, including but not limited to battery storage, solar photovoltaics, combined heat and power, and microgrids. Case studies, fact sheets, and other resources are available at the U.S. DOE’s Onsite Energy Program website.

Publications


Success Story

A WSU Energy Program engineer helped an insulation company determine various return-on-investment (ROI) scenarios for insulating pipes and valves.

After meeting with their client, the insulation company representative said “... We demonstrated more than a dozen ROI analyses of pipe and valve insulation. The firm was very impressed with the data and is allowing us to perform a pilot project on one property.... We wanted to thank you directly for that successful presentation. As we work together in reducing excessive fuel consumption throughout the country, we realize the power of converting our nation into an energy efficient society, one property at a time.”