Delivering mission-critical storage solutions Riello

DELIVERING MISSION-CRITICAL STORAGE SOLUTIONS

Riello is a global market leader in the design and manufacture of advanced electronic storage solutions and high-efficiency burners for the domestic, commercial and industrial sectors. Its expertise in the development of hyper-efficient, low Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emission products and renewable energy storage systems has helped to drive the company’s global revenues to a new level, as Philip Yorke reports.

Riello’s history has been as innovative as its products. The company was founded in Italy in 1920 and in 1923 it became the first company to adapt domestic light oil burners for use in bakers’ ovens and other specialist applications. In 1925, due to the gas-oil crisis and following considerable investment in R&D, the company adapted burners to accommodate the new heavy fuel oil. During the 1930s and 40s the company continued to innovate, thus anticipating and responding to changes in the market to meet users’ requirements, and in 1950 invested heavily in more extensive production facilities. In 1958 a special department was set up for the automation of burner components. Further expansion and product development kept the company at the leading edge of its sector through the 1960s, 70s and 80s, with expansion across Europe, entry into the US market and the opening of a production facility in Canada. Between 1985 and 1990 subsidiaries were established in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium and Switzerland.

Through its programme of consistent investment in R&D, the company has achieved market leadership in Europe with its highefficiency burners with low NOx emissions, and advanced energystorage systems that provide unrivalled power supply protection for industry with particular emphasis on mission critical installations such as data centres.

Futuristic energy storage solutions

In June this year, a new collaboration between RWE, Europe’s leading energy trader, and Riello UPS, the second-largest manufacturer of uninterruptible power supplies in Europe, has transformed the future horizons for energy storage options. The new strategic alli-

ance will provide energy-intensive, mission-critical sites such as data centres, with the opportunity to capitalise on the growing trend for battery storage without compromising on their overall reliability and power availability.

Electricity generation in Europe is in the process of a huge transformation, with old-style plants powered by fossil fuels on the way out. For example, in May 2019, Britain went coal-free for more than a fortnight, with renewables such as solar, wind, and tidal playing an increasingly important role.

While this shift to low carbon delivers significant environmental benefits, it does introduce other problems as these green sources can be more unpredictable. This, in turn, makes it more difficult for the National Grid to balance supply with demand and ensure power supply stability.

The obvious solution to this challenge is a move away from the traditional centralised method of power generation, transmission, and distribution to a dynamic, decentralised network driven by smart grids, onsite generation, and battery storage, where energy users can also be producers. With Riello and TWE working in close harmony together to make global energy-storage a reality the benefits to consumers and manufacturing industries are immeasurable.

New Low-NOx solutions

When it comes to the heating side of its business, Riello is now able to offer new low NOx solutions for hospital environments with its latest three RLS300/EV Riello Dual Fuel electronic cam burners that come complete with variable speed drive. These advanced burners have been installed in many hospital applications where low NOx, coupled with fuel efficiency gains were required.

Moving to a fully modulating burner control, coupled with the efficiency gains from a switch to electronic cam and variable speed drive, today’s hospitals can expect to make substantial energy savings by installing these highly efficient Riello burners.

Unique “Next Energy” systems

Riello UPS’s super-efficient ‘NextEnergy’ range is now reinforced with a new and improved version of the NXE 250. Like the entire NXE family, the 250 kVA model is manufactured using the most innovative transformerless technologies to provide unbeatable dualconversion in online UPS protection.

Designed to meet the power requirements of the future and deliver maximum availability in mission-critical applications such as data centres, the ‘NextEnergy’ battery-based systems offer unity

power factors and feature a broad range of energy-saving attributes that reduce operating costs without compromising on performance.

In online mode, the NXE is capable of TÜV-certified operational efficiency up to 97 per cent, which can increase to 99 per cent in Eco or Smart Active mode. In addition, a new operating mode called ‘Active Eco’ enables the load to be fed at high efficiency, from the bypass line, while at the same time working as an active filter to reduce any current harmonics, increasing the power factor towards the entrance network.

The new ‘NextEnergy’ range offers data centre operators and IT managers exceptional flexibility. What’s more it can be installed with or without a neutral connection, thus potentially reducing power distribution system costs, while up to 8 UPS can operate in parallel to provide increased capacity or redundancy.

Furthermore, Hot System Expansion (HSE) functionality enables extra UPS to be added without having to shut down the system or switch to bypass. A high-definition 7-inch colour LCD touchscreen display panel showing voltage, UPS status, and battery levels puts full control at the user’s fingertips, whilst the ‘NextEnergy’ system also comes with an array of communications ports and is fullycompatible with Riello UPS’s full suite of communications software such as its well-known PowerShield3. For further details of Riello’s latest innovative, energy-saving products and services visit: www. riello.com n