Knowledge Is the Power To Reduce Risk and Drive Energy Savings

Reduce market exposure and better utilize onsite power generation.

Ultra-Poly grew from a 1974 basement startup to become one of the largest plastic recyclers in the United States. Originally, the company focused exclusively on toll processing: taking another company’s scrap plastic, re-pelletizing it, and sending it back for manufacturing. This saves manufacturers from using 100% virgin material on production runs and keeps millions of pounds of plastic waste out of landfills.

As an innovative business, Ultra-Poly saw and acted on other opportunities. The company began buying scrap and making a proprietary grade of product material. Additionally, they began compounding materials to meet individual manufacturers’ custom specifications. More recently, Ultra-Poly started manufacturing railroad ties from 100% recycled plastic. Their original toll processing service remains a core business, accounting for about half their output. At the time of NRG’s initial engagement, Ultra-Poly covered energy needs on a fixed-price contract with onsite backup generation for emergencies.

In January 2014, a polar vortex swept across the north-central and northeastern U.S., plunging the region into unusually frigid temperatures. Ultra-Poly was positioned to mitigate power shortages, but not the huge spike in costs by exceeding contracted usage and going off plan. The result was an astronomical energy bill and the realization something had to be done immediately. Ultra-Poly partnered with NRG to ensure this was a one-time situation.

After a full facility assessment, our Advisory Team recommended a purchasing plan through PowerPortfolio®, a managed electricity purchasing solution structured like a financial portfolio. This allowed Ultra-Poly to combine fixed and variable pricing strategies, and to purchase energy wholesale. With this new arrangement, Ultra-Poly could hedge against energy pricing in a  variety of situations and float a portion of their energy load to take advantage of dips in the market.

Next we suggested a demand response (DR) program, which pays businesses to cut energy use during peak demand. This can involve simply turning off equipment when it’s not in use, or shifting production schedules to off peak hours.

Ultra-Poly also had onsite generation capacity, providing even more opportunity to leverage DR. To that end, we suggested day-ahead pricing to have visibility and keep the generation team aware of DR opportunities.

Since 2014, we have continued as trusted advisors, collaborating to protect revenue and stabilize the grid. In 2020, we brought a second Ultra-Poly facility online with a DR program.