Enigin Update - A Mandatory Energy Efficiency Scheme for South Africa?
SOUTH AFRICA’S state-owned power company Eskom said yesterday that it wants the government to set a mandatory energy efficiency scheme as a safety net.
We revealed recently that Eskom expects there to be further difficulties for South Africa as they try to rank up their generating capacity, which is currently struggling to match demand, leading to brown and black outs.
Kannan Lakmeeharan, Eskom's MD of systems operations and planning, claimed that imposing a 10 percent mandatory energy savings target, based on 2006 consumption, would promote energy efficiency and help with the expected power problems.
At an Energy Indaba (an indaba is an important traditional South African conference) in Johannesburg, yesterday, Lakmeeharan said: "We are trying to create a maintenance window to improve plant performance by 1-2 percent in the next three years.”
He added: “The mandatory scheme will act as a safety net if we need to use it. The target could be adjusted according to the severity of the (energy) gap.
"We don't want to be caught with our pants down again. It requires urgency and calls to action."
"A mandatory scheme would be a fair system," added Lakmeeharan, referring to applying load shedding.
He emphasised that "Eskom cannot impose a mandatory scheme," and stated that they were not suggesting that a continual scheme, but a scheme in place that could be enacted when needed, allowing the government to act quickly.
"In the next two years, the worst case scenario is not good," Lakmeeharan warned, pointing to the recently reported energy gap, the difference between demand and supply, "Immediate focus is needed on energy efficiency," he said.
Eskom forecast that the energy gap will be between 6TWh and 9TWh during 2011 and 2012, adding that 9TWh is equivalent to the yearly consumption of a city like Cape Town.
Eskom believe it is important to have the scheme in place, to allow time for those affected to adjust their energy needs that would be required. For example, the proposed compulsory scheme would require large users to establish baselines of energy use and have electricity monitoring and verification equipment in place.
Enigin Distributors across South Africa are equipped with Enigin Plc's Eniscope Real-time and Analytics solution, allowing businesses and organisations to be able to monitor energy use in real time along with historical analytical reporting of where, when and how energy is being utilised - leading to intelligent management of energy costs and demand.
Lakmeeharan stated that some companies have already initiated energy efficiency programmes, such as gold miners AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields, who have enjoyed energy savings of about 10 percent, without affecting production costs.
Picture of Johannesburg Braamfontein Eland by NJR ZA
