In view of the on-going pandemic where uncertainties are high, a new approach was undertaken to support companies that struggle to maintain their energy management needs. In general, except for large industries, companies depend on energy auditors to identify areas of improvement and suggestive measures to overcome gaps. Audits play an essential role as they monitor and track process improvements within companies. But due to the pandemic and lack of physical presence, audits were not conducted in most of the companies. To avoid any lag in process efficiency in these challenging times, the following programme was implemented. 

The GIZ internal sector network TUEWAS (Transport, Environment, Energy and Water in Asia) which aims to promote regional cooperation and exchange, developed the project of “Introducing a facility in-house mechanism to trigger energy efficiency behaviour among industrial consumers through online support to increase the productivity and mitigate carbon emission“. 

The focus of this initiative was on establishing digital small energy efficiency groups (DSEEG) in Vietnam, Bangladesh, India and Nepal. Inhouse teams or as we call them digital small energy efficiency groups (DSEEG) were established within selected companies to strengthen the energy management, to develop energy efficiency knowledge and improve the capacity of energy relevant personnel as the basis for continuous improvement process in the companies. This was implemented by online coaching of the DSEEGs to improve their technical and financial energy efficiency project appraisal as well proposal preparation and presentation skills. 

In each of the four participating countries, three companies were selected by the staff of the GIZ within the country. For each country project, one national energy efficiency consultant (NC) was contracted to bridge the communication gap between the international consultant (IC). NC’s played an important role in the entire activity as they joined online trainings and conducted the onsite visits and walk-through audits. These visits included technical support for the DSEEGs in establishing facility energy efficiency action plans (FEEAPs). 

The IC supported the whole DSEEG program by developing the training content, training and fostering an experience exchange with the NCs.

The results of this project were impacting:

With an overall potential investment of $803.609 yearly savings of more than 5 GWh, more than 3.900 t of CO2 and more than $300.000 can be achieved. As it was not possible to calculate CO2 savings for all measures the actual saving potential would be even higher.

The program succeeded in initiating processes in the companies with regard to energy efficiency, development of a large catalogue of measures, capacity building and thus strengthening energy management. The prime objective of establishing digital small energy efficiency groups (DSEEG) in all the selected companies to carry out energy management was achieved. In spite of the short duration of the project, this remains an ongoing practice in these companies.

A digital initiative implemented to meet the energy efficiency needs in these challenging times turned out to be a successful model which can be easily replicated and opened the doors for future partnerships.

For more details, please contact Mr. Nitin Jain nitin.jain(at)giz.de.