Better Financial Performances with SLA

With a country rich in energy resources, Nigerian industries primarily rely on self-generated electricity using CNG, LNG, and diesel.

Under a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with Waterleau, a global brewer with a local production site achieved significant power savings for its wastewater treatment infrastructure designed and built by Waterleau. Year-on-year electrical energy savings were consistently delivered, with one exception: the one-year SLA suspension during the 2020 pandemic.

The one-year lag between implementing actions and seeing their results is evident. The impact of the pandemic-related SLA suspension is clear, as the 2021 savings were lower than in other years but returned to normal within a year of resumption.

The primary contributor to these energy savings is the improvement of the aerobic treatment process. Effluent-polishing sand filters and auxiliary processes have been utilized to enhance the aerobic biological treatment process, thereby reducing the overall aeration energy requirements of the WWTP. Despite increasing the total installed treatment capacity, these energy efficiency improvements are due to our superior understanding and testing of adjustable parameters without compromising treatment quality.

Maximizing thermal energy recovery

Our audits have validated that nearly 100% of produced bio-methane is consumed in the boiler house rather than waste-flaring. Our ongoing work is to resolve the measurement of bio-methane production and consumption to maximum accuracy, for live reporting purposes.

Continuous OPEX improvement

Our recommendations on the use of the dynamic calamity tank have previously prevented untreated effluent bypasses, which would otherwise result in lost value from bio-methane production and create a misleading impression of electrical energy savings. Our consulting and reporting work frequently averts the implementation of counterproductive strategies that could increase overall OPEX or lead to regulatory non-compliance for the WWTP, such as cutting costs in sludge de-watering.

Improving our client competences

The client has consistently demonstrated diligence in reporting data, attending support meetings, servicing equipment, and implementing our recommendations. Their in-house capabilities have significantly improved during our SLA term, and our ongoing involvement remains a critical anchor of knowledge, mitigating the impact of staff turnover.