Guyana's 's private sector measuring energy efficiency | Latest

The electricity efficiency of several Guyanese companies is being measured as part of a project being funded by the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), the private sector organisation said Tuesday.

The GMSA says Jamaican energy expert, Eaton Haughton is visiting the five pilot companies that are participating in the IDB/GMSA Energy Efficiency Project.

?Haughton is currently visiting the pilot companies that are participating in the IDB/GMSA project and will shortly commence the process of measuring power input and output on each location and assessing the viability and suitability of their electrical installations in their factories, workshops and offices,? the GMSA said in a statement.

Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com) was told that the companies include Guyana and Trinidad Mutual (GTM) insurance company, National Milling Company (NAMILCO), Brass Aluminium and Cast Iron Foundry (BACIF) and Edward B.Beharrry and Company Limited.

Haughton, who is thee Chief Executive Officer of Caribbean ESCo Ltd, is working in tandem with locally based Electrical Engineering firm, Dynamic Engineering Company that has recently ventured into Energy Conservation as a new service line.?

?He is examining each company?s systemic and operational energy demand for analysis against their needs. These will eventually be amalgamated with consumption patterns and costs and factored into workable Energy Management formulas for each category of enterprise,? the GMSA added.

Since his arrival, Haughton met with Prime Minister Samuel Hinds who holds ministerial responsibility for the energy sector, as well as members of the Project Steering Committee and key personnel within the companies participating in the Project.?

The ultimate objective of this project is to guide Guyanese enterprises across the business spectrum towards effectively managing their energy costs through the application of conservation methodologies, technological adaptations and Best Practice techniques.

This Project was designed to address three distinct but interrelated components - Energy Conservation, Energy Consumption and Alternative Energy Sources.? All interventions, according to the Project?s ToR, will comply with the regulatory framework of the National Energy Policy, and the GMSA will continue to work closely with the GoG though the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA).

The Energy Efficiency Rating Study now underway is to collect baseline data for Lighting Equipment & Accessories, Heating & Cooling Equipment, Motorized Drives and other major energy consuming and power conductivity assets to establish a data baseline showing Consumption, Utilization and Cost patterns.? This study will be followed immediately in Q1 2013 with an Energy Audit at the same companies which will involve live In-Plant measurements and monitoring of electrical assets to arrive at variance analyses between actual and rated consumption levels. This segment will be conducted by another internationally renowned Energy Auditor, overseas-based Guyanese Dr. Carl Duncan.? With all data combines, recommendations will be made for corrective actions, be they technological, structural or procedural.

In the interim, the Consultants will facilitate three (3) Workshops for business owners and representatives operating in the commercial, food and agricultural, services, manufacturing and other sectors.? The first workshop will take place in January 2013 mainly to sensitize the business community to the bottom line value of efficient energy management.

GMSA President, Mohindra Chand, has noted that this Energy Efficiency Project has deep implications for Guyana?s manufacturers who are ?hurting? as a result of debilitating energy costs.? The consequent high costs of production of Guyanese products, he noted, have had a serious impact on the ability of these products to compete well on the international market.??

The project, he said, also has implications for national policy, he said, referring to the Business Model that will evolve from it.? Project Administrator, Clement Duncan, explained that all the data gathered during both phases of the project will be morphed into a National Business Guide to efficient energy conductivity and consumption in businesses nationwide.?

In a brief conversation ?Haughton stated emphatically that his primary thrust has always been to improve the efficiency of energy delivery and consumption ahead of capital investments for power from renewable sources.? ?I may have some radical views on energy efficiency,? he stated, ?but they have been tried and tested over the quarter century that he has been involved in the business of energy management.?? ?My first objective is to find the means that will enable Guyanese companies to save money.? I am all about the ?bottom line?,? he stated.

Haughton said that he has always been an advocate for industries operating with long term energy management plans and maximum efficiency, noting that the application of renewable energy (solar, wind, thermal) should be ?an approach of last resort?.? Such a decision must be practical, sustainable, properly conceived and more cost effective than the alternative.

Throughout the Caribbean, Guyana included, he has noticed that there is a dearth of correct information that would improve general awareness and prevent householders and companies from being misled into believing that new equipment could reduce their high energy costs.? ?Energy Efficiency is paramount,? he said, noting that ?When a company?s energy management system is geared towards efficient consumption, that company will save itself the expense of investing in renewable energy capital.??

He said that he found that companies and even householders opted for expensive installations that eventually proved that they were compensating for inefficiencies in their own consumption patterns.? ?Reducing energy consumption and proper monitoring and maintenance of equipment that conduct electricity from the exterior to the interior of buildings is much more cost effective,? Haughton stated.

He cited commercial banks as one more key factor that generally inhibits companies? ability to sustain their power efficiencies.? ?Banks are generally conservative and reluctant to deviate from normal practice,? he said, referring to a pervasive reluctance to grant commercial loans for improvement or advancement of technical electrical equipment and components.? He cited the Jamaica experience noting that the banking systems there had not been geared just a few years ago to cover technical equipment.? ?Fortunately, now the Jamaican lending institutions are beginning to recognize the value of investing in electrical equipment.? There has been a paradigm shift,? Haughton said.? The biggest hurdle is awareness, and the rest is the domino effect.?

Energy expenditure accounts for more than 30 percent of the average Guyanese company?s overheads in any given month.? .?

Haughton is himself a high profile energy consultant, renowned throughout the Caribbean Region.? Over the past 25 years he has completed or contributed to several internationally funded projects for the governments and private sectors in Belize, the Bahamas islands, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Suriname and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. ?He was instrumental in installing hospital solar water heating systems in Grenada and implemented energy audits and energy services projects for the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), and on the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies.

More recently in 2011 he completed an extensive Energy Audit at the Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara-based ?CARICOM Secretariat.??

Source: http://www.demerarawaves.com/index.php/201211134953/Latest/private-sector-measuring-energy-efficiency.html

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