MechChem Africa March 2017

March 2017

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MechChem Africa

⎪

Sustainable energy and energy management

⎪

Industrial energy-efficiency

initiative in SA

The Industrial Energy Efficiency (IEE)

Projectwas established in2010 in response

to the growing need to improve the energy

efficiency of South Africa, including the re-

ducing of carbon-dioxide emissions and the

increase of the effectiveness of in-plant

energy management as a means of increas-

ing profitability.

UNIDO, along with the Swiss State

Secretariat for Economic Affairs, the UK

Department of International Development

and partnered by the Department of Trade

and Industry (thedti) and theDepartment of

Energy (DoE) of South Africa, embarked on

a programme to address the global drive for

greater energy efficiency. Since its inception

in 2010, the IEE project has assisted indus-

trial companies to reduce energy use by

2020 GWh, saving participating companies

some R1.7-billion in energy costs.

The ultimate goal is to demonstrate the

positive impact of energy management as a

meansofreducingcarbon-dioxideemissions

and to demonstrate the effectiveness and

financial impact of in-plant energymanage-

ment. The project focuses on skills develop-

ment at both company and train-the-trainer

levels, and also addresses system optimisa-

tion. This includes an audit and systemic

approach to energy-efficiency and leads to

better prospects ofmeasurement andverifi-

cation of energy savings, using best practice

experience and expertise. This has been

achieved through the promotion and imple-

mentation of EnergyManagement Systems

(EnMS) and Energy Systems Optimisation

(ESO) and the strengthening of industry

capacity in the energy efficiency field.

Energy Management System

(EnMS) implementation

In this procedure, the participating com-

pany is assisted with the developing of and

implementation of an energy management

system in line with the ISO 50001 Energy

Management Standard. Expert mentoring

support and advice is provided via access

to national and international experts in the

field of EnMS. The programme is typically

run over nine to 12 months.

Energy Systems Optimisation

(ESO) implementation

This programme offers industry the op-

portunity to systematically target selected

systems within their processing facilities

and intensely interrogate their performance

and effectiveness. Participating companies

are provided access to technical special-

ists to undertake assessments within their

processes in order to identify improvement

options for implementation. These assess-

ments are significantly shorter than the

EnMS programme, ranging from five to 15

days depending on the scale and complexity

of the facility.

its courses focus on implementing entire

energy management strategies – how to get

the policies implemented in accordance with

standards, documenting the processes and

ensuring that the participating company sees

a return on investment. Energy management

in its totality includes eachandeverymeasure

an organisation has implemented or plans

to implement, in order to ensure minimum

energy consumption for the current activity.

“Industrial energy management requires a

holisticmanagement approach,” she stressed.

After the various panel members had

discussed topics such as energy access and

affordability, and taken questions from del-

egates, presentations followed on: Energy

management systems; Energy modelling and

alternatives; Energy systems optimisation;

and Energy financing. The present-

ers offered practical solutions and

opportunities and encouraged del-

egates and others to sign up to the

subsidised services of the NCPC-SA

for help with implementing energy

management in their companies.

Popular panellist with a keen

sense of humour, Sisa Njikelana, said

that, in his opinion, the government

was not taking up the gauntlet of

energy efficiency, with little having

been done since 2005 when a strat-

egywas first established. He believes

it is up to municipalities to take up

the cause and target, not only private

companies, but everyone. “Indeed,

therearemanychallengesandoppor-

tunities ahead,” he said, “but training,

education and legislation have got to create

theenvironment for enabling change; and this

changemanagementhastobetheresponsibil-

ity of our government in the end.”

Njikelana is an ANC anti-apartheid strug-

gle veteranwho is currently a research fellow

at theCentre of Competition, Regulation and

Economic Development at the University of

Johannesburg. He is also a formerMember of

Parliament (2004 to 2014) and Chairperson

of the Portfolio Committee on Energy. In

addition, for three years during the 90s, he

was a counsellor in the Eastern Metro of

the Greater Johannesburg Metro Council.

Njikelana now sits as an executive and non-

executive director on a number of boards.

Concluding his talk, he said that in the

environment in which he has mostly worked,

he would be told: “Honourablemember, your

time is up.”

In the afternoon, industry case studies and

success stories were related by other pre-

senters, including Stephen Koopman, Energy

Centre, R&D outcomes manager, CSIR, who

spoke on energy modelling and alternative

energies. The five research priorities of the

centre focus on challenges associated with a

large uptake of fluctuating renewables from

the supply side, and the need for more ef-

ficient use of energy from the demand side.

He briefly discussed these, which are: energy

efficiency and demand forecasting; renew-

able energies; energy-system technologies;

energy-system planning; and operation and

energy markets and policy.

Faith Mkhacwa, a project manager at

the NCPC-SA, gave a very clear and concise

presentationonenergymanagement systems

and industrial efficiencyopportunities, stress-

ing the great importance of training and the

valuable role that human behavioural change

has on changing attitudes to the energy prob-

lemswe face inour nation. She reiterated that

an adhoc approach tomanaging energy is not

acceptable, and that a structured approach is

definitely the way to go.

Therewere also talks about energyfinanc-

ing (Berrie de Jager of Standard Bank); en-

ergy efficiency gains through biogas (Sashay

Ramdharee, project manager, NCPC-SA);

and energy-focused tax incentives (Barry

Bredenkamp, senior manager: energy ef-

ficient & corporate communications for

SANEDI – the South AfricanNational Energy

Development Institute).