The Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU (EED) was released in October 2012 and transposed in June 2014 by Member States. The Directive requires large companies to carry out an energy audit before December 2015, which has to be repeated every 4 years. A possibility for companies to be exempted from regular energy audits is to be or become certified by an approved energy management system (EnMS), most likely the international standard ISO 50001. In both cases, companies will have to set plans and define actions to comply with European and national requirements, aiming at improving their energy efficiency. Considering the disparities across European countries regarding the awareness and involvement of the industrial sector in terms of energy management, a large number of companies still lack systematic and comprehensive ways to understand, improve and monitor their energy consumption in a cost-effective way.
A good number of methods and techniques already exist to determine and improve the energy efficiency of industrial processes, covering the different energy vectors (electricity, natural gas, steam, etc). However, when it comes to carry out a total site analysis, identify energy saving opportunities and implement energy management system components (generation of energy baseline, energy performance indicators, monitoring strategy), the task can turn to be quite complex depending on the industrial site size.
This project aims to develop a comprehensive methodology to carry out indicative energy audits in compliance with existing standards in the field (EN 16247-1 and EN 16247-3) and including the ISO 50001 requirements of the energy planning phase (e.g. energy review, energy baseline and energy performance indicators definition). It makes use of state-of-the-art techniques such as data reconciliation, modelling, heat integration via total site pinch analysis and statistical tools.
As a result, industrial companies would improve their energy performance, better manage their energy consumption, and more easily meet the long-term Energy Efficiency Directive objectives and European and national energy targets.
Keywords:
- Energy management
- Monitoring
- Energy efficiency
Contact: Elfie Méchaussie