Industrial Energy Monitoring with PAS800 & Schneider PowerTags
Monitor power consumption, track CO2 emissions, and allocate energy costs across departments using TagFinder's built-in energy monitoring module with PAS800 and Schneider Electric PowerTag support.
What Is Energy Monitoring in TagFinder?
TagFinder includes a dedicated Energy Monitoring module that connects to industrial power meters and circuit-level sensors. It provides real-time visibility into electricity consumption, trend analysis, and cost allocation — all from the same platform you use for asset tracking and cold chain monitoring.
Energy monitoring is available as part of the TagFinder platform. No separate login, no separate system. If you already use TagFinder for tracking or temperature monitoring, energy data appears in the same dashboard.
Supported Hardware
Schneider Electric PAS800 Power Meters
The PAS800 is Schneider Electric's compact, DIN-rail-mounted power meter designed for industrial energy management. TagFinder integrates natively with PAS800 meters via Modbus TCP/IP or RS-485.
Key PAS800 capabilities:
- Active power (kW), reactive power (kVAR), apparent power (kVA)
- Voltage, current, and power factor per phase
- Energy counters (kWh) with tamper-proof registers
- Harmonic distortion monitoring (THD)
- DIN-rail mount for easy panel installation
Schneider Electric PowerTags
PowerTags are wireless energy sensors that clip directly onto existing miniature circuit breakers (MCBs) inside electrical panels. They provide circuit-level energy data without any rewiring.
Key PowerTag capabilities:
- Per-circuit energy monitoring (kWh, A, V, PF)
- Wireless communication via Zigbee to a SmartLink gateway
- Retrofit installation — no downtime, no rewiring
- Supports single-phase and three-phase circuits
- Up to 20 PowerTags per SmartLink gateway
Use Cases
1. Industrial Energy Analytics
Monitor total facility consumption and break it down by production line, department, or machine group. Identify energy-intensive processes and measure the impact of efficiency improvements.
Example: A manufacturing plant installs PAS800 meters on each production line's main feeder. TagFinder dashboards show real-time consumption per line, enabling the plant manager to identify that Line 3 uses 40% more energy per unit produced than Line 1.
2. Cost Allocation by Department
In multi-tenant buildings or facilities with shared infrastructure, allocate energy costs accurately to each department or cost center using PowerTag data.
Example: A hospital installs PowerTags on 60 circuits across 4 departments. TagFinder generates monthly cost allocation reports, replacing estimated bills with actual consumption data.
3. CO2 Tracking & Sustainability Reporting
TagFinder converts energy consumption into CO2 equivalent emissions using configurable emission factors. This data feeds directly into sustainability reports and ESG dashboards.
4. Peak Demand Management
Monitor demand peaks in real time. Set alerts when consumption approaches contracted capacity limits to avoid expensive demand charges from utilities.
5. Equipment Efficiency Monitoring
Track energy consumption per machine over time. Detect gradual efficiency degradation that indicates maintenance needs — before a breakdown occurs.
How It Integrates with TagFinder
Energy monitoring runs on the same TagFinder platform as all other solutions:
- Same login, same dashboard — no separate system to manage
- Unified alerting — energy threshold alerts use the same notification engine as geofence and temperature alerts
- REST API access — query energy data programmatically for BI integration
- Multi-site support — compare energy performance across facilities
- Role-based access — energy managers see energy data; operations sees tracking data
Technical Architecture
- PAS800 meters connect via Modbus TCP/IP to the TagFinder data collection service
- PowerTags communicate via Zigbee to a Schneider SmartLink gateway, which connects to TagFinder via Modbus TCP/IP or the Schneider EcoStruxure API
- TagFinder stores energy time-series data in TimescaleDB alongside all other sensor data
- Dashboards show real-time consumption, historical trends, and anomaly detection
Getting Started
Energy monitoring is available on all TagFinder plans. To get started:
- Install PAS800 meters or PowerTags in your electrical panels
- Connect them to your TagFinder gateway via Modbus or SmartLink
- Configure energy zones and thresholds in the TagFinder dashboard
- Start monitoring immediately
For detailed installation guidance, contact our team or visit the TagFinder documentation.