On October 14, I joined the virtual awards ceremony for the 2020 AEE International Awards, which recognise outstanding energy-related achievements of the association’s members across the world. The AEE is the Association of Energy Engineers, a non-profit professional society with over 18 000 members in more than 100 countries. Its mission? To promote the scientific and educational interests of those engaged in the energy industry and to foster action for sustainable development.
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Our cover and cover story for this issue feature the excellent news that this year’s AEE International Energy Project of the Year award, the highest international accolade for an energy programme, went to South Africa’s Industrial Energy Efficiency (IEE) Project. This for its efforts to transform energy use patterns in South African industry, by mainstreaming energy management systems and pioneering energy training and professional development across economic sectors.
The beginning of the IEE Project in 2009/2010 coincides with when I first started editing MechChem Africa/Mechanical Technology. For all of that time, we have been covering energy management and efficiency strategies and successes, initially through pumping specialist Harry Rosen of TASOnline, who has long argued for the adoption of the systems approach to improving the efficiency and reliability of pumping circuits. For several years now, Rosen, who is a UNIDO International Pump Expert with the IEE Project, has been one of our columnists. We met when his company was still organising the International Pump Users Conference (IPUC), which is also where I first became aware of ISO 50001, the Energy Management system standard.
The Mining and Industrial Energy Optimisation (MIEO) seminars also began at about that time, supported through the Association for Energy Efficiency and Eskom’s Demand-Side Management initiative. It was Harry Rosen who alerted me to them, and through these seminars we met and presented stories from Mario Kuisis of Martec, Wayne Jacobs from Atlas Copco, Murray Jooste from Weir Minerals and many more, all of whom were regular MIEO roadshow presenters.
Until Eskom load shedding began in January 2008, energy efficiency was low on the priority list of industrial plant managers. Alf Hartzenburg of the CSIR’s National Cleaner Production Centre and the national manager of the IEE Project describes the introduction of load shedding as the ‘burning platform’ that focused minds to the need for change. Initially, though, the rushed response was all about generation – the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP); Medupi, Kusile and the nuclear programme – with every industrial site that could afford it installing backup diesel generators.
Thanks to the persistent efforts by all those who were part of, or participated in, the IEE Project in South Africa, a real mindset shift has occurred. As well as the undisputed environmental benefits, the value of energy efficiency in terms of energy security, plant productivity and lower operating costs, is now undisputed.
Hartzenburg also talks about the new career opportunities that have been created in South Africa for energy engineers, which were unheard of in this country a decade ago. In this month’s Power generation, petrochemical and sustainable energy management feature, we interview one of these new energy professionals, Tygue Theron of Energy Partners (EP) Intelligence. He describes a modern and holistic approach to energy, which starts with behaviour-based ‘war on waste’ initiatives, followed by energy optimisation investments in technologies such as high efficiency refrigeration systems.
Also, investments in EP’s suggested solutions and energy management services are now routinely funded via power purchase or shared savings agreements, which completely remove any doubt about the worth of adopting the energy management approach.
Also in this issue, Energy leader for Zutari, Paul Nel, talks about his company’s renewable energy journey and its “return home” to Africa. “The energy crisis is driving positive change and our energy mix is going to look different and better in the future,” Nel says. In terms of the energy mix going forward, he adds “…the answer has to be renewables, with a healthy dose of gas in the medium term to provide on-demand dispatchable power,” he says.
I attended the AEE 2020 Awards via Zoom. We were asked to leave the video on to give a sense of an audience. Not having to wear shoes or even trousers was joked about, but our presenter from the US was in a Tuxedo at 4:00 am. Clapping felt rather odd, but so did popping into the kitchen for a cup of tea.
But in the words of Alf Hartzenburg, “I was
blown away that a project born in South Africa had achieved such high international status against the best international competition in the world.” So was I, Alf, so was I.
It made me very glad.
