EKO Stormarknad, a leading Swedish retail chain and part of the Bergendahls Group, operates 16 large discount department stores across Sweden. In an effort to optimize energy consumption and improve profitability, EKO Stormarknad collaborated with Smartwatt to implement an intelligent energy-saving solution in its Skövde store. This project resulted in substantial energy savings while maintaining a comfortable indoor climate.

The Energy Challenge: Identifying the Problem

EKO Stormarknad's Skövde location, built in 2020 and spanning approximately 8,000 m², faced a significant challenge—high energy consumption of 140 kWh/m². Overventilation and inefficient temperature control led to unnecessary heating and cooling, directly impacting operational costs and sustainability efforts. The store required an advanced solution to optimize energy use without compromising indoor comfort.

AI-Driven Optimization: The Smartwatt Solution

To address the issue, Smartwatt deployed 15 LoRaWAN indoor climate sensors strategically across the store to monitor and transmit real-time environmental data every five minutes to Smartwatt’s AI-driven control system. Additionally, Smartwatt installed its Gateway technology to directly manage the two ventilation units.

By leveraging AI-driven algorithms, the system continuously learns and predicts optimal operational set points. This allowed for precise, demand-based ventilation adjustments—eliminating unnecessary energy use while ensuring a stable and comfortable indoor environment.

Before Smartwatt: The store experienced overventilation, with excessive heating and cooling leading to energy wastage.

After Smartwatt: Fan speeds became demand-controlled, with economic operation times tailored to actual building use. Ventilation systems now run at just 30% capacity when demand is low, ramping up only as needed.