SavaControls at Manchester United FC

Overview

  • Savings for refrigeration in Premiership Football Club
  • Installation of Single and Three Phase SavaControls
  • Payback under 2 years

Manchester United scores with energy-saving controls

When Wayne Rooney and his Manchester United team mates play under the floodlights at Old Trafford, the stadium’s electricity usage tops the 4.3 megawatt mark. But as the goal tally mounts up, the electricity use comes down as the club seeks to minimise its energy consumption all round. Yet reducing energy and water use is a tough challenge at a football ground where the facilities are in great demand almost 365 days a year for everything from wedding receptions to product launches.

Manchester United’s success in marketing its extensive facilities reflects its position as a leading global brand. The Theatre of Dreams has now become a must-have venue for organisers of exhibitions, conferences, dinners and myriad other events. With the stadium’s catering facilities busy seven days a week, more than 100 fridges and freezers are running round the clock and contributing to Manchester United’s annual spend of more than £500,000 on energy and utilities.

The club has a firmly-established environmental policy that seeks to minimise its environmental impacts. “We aim to minimise significant environmental impacts and ensure legal compliance. We will aim to conserve natural resources by minimising the use of non-renewable materials, by recycling materials by minimising energy use by using recycled products and packaging.”

We want to achieve as large a saving as we can on energy and water usage, and we have identified savings of £10,000 in our spending. “We are doing this not only because we want a good return on our investment but also because we want to achieve our goal of being a green company, which is very important to us,” he added. One key way of reducing energy consumption has been the installation of SavaControls electronic motor controllers manufactured and installed by SavaWatt on nearly all of Old Trafford’s fridges and freezers.