- The Centre for Energy Efficiency and Conservation aimed at helping firms cut power costs by 20%.
- Last year, 2,706.62 GWh of electrical energy were consumed by large commercial and industrial customers.
Image: COURTESY
New guidelines to help large and medium institutions and manufacturers in Kenya adopt energy efficient measures are out.
This follows a study by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) that noticed that firms in Kenya lose billions of shillings annually in power wastage.
In 2006, the Ministry of Energy n partnership with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) established a Centre for Energy Efficiency and Conservation (CEEC) to help cut costs and promote competitiveness of firms while fostering a clean environment.
It aimed at offering guidelines to help firms save an average of 20 per cent of their total energy expenditure and on specialised training on proper energy.
The Energy Performance Benchmarking Study currently being presented to industry stakeholders for their input aspires to set minimum energy performance benchmarking metrics through the establishment of energy benchmarking models.
Epra boss Daniel Kiptoo said once implemented, the energy benchmarks will help improve energy efficiency in the targeted sectors and reduce the overall cost of production.
“Energy benchmarking is invaluable in the identification of energy inefficiencies in production processes and estimating potential energy savings,'' Kiptoo said.
"As we move forward, we will collaborate closely with sector players to develop energy performance benchmarking models for each of the seven industries."
He said the models would guide the calculation of the energy efficiency ratio cut-off points for these facilities.
"The benchmarks will once adopted improve energy efficiency in designated facilities, ultimately lowering the overall cost of production,” he said.
The study targets cement, sugar, tea, dairy, flower farms, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and hotel sub-sectors.
According to the survey, there is an opportunity to save between 0.5 per cent to 21.8 per cent on electrical energy in flower farms, if benchmarks are adopted, across various cumulative percentage levels.
The highest simulated improvement was 62 per cent of the facilities, while the lowest considered improvement of 12 per cent of the facilities.
In the cement sector, the grinding function of the cement industry in Kenya can save up to 3.68 per cent of the total energy consumed for two years if the bottom 50 per cent of the factories improves their performance to meet the average benchmark energy efficiency ratio (EER) of 1.01.
Last year, large commercial and industrial customers accounting for 51.99 per cent of total consumption consumed 2,706.62 GWh of electrical energy.
This category consists of consumers supplied at medium and high-voltage or at low voltage with a monthly usage surpassing 15,000 kWh.
These include large and medium industries and factories, high-rise buildings, warehouses and public infrastructure installations such as airports, ports and railway stations.
These are energy-intensive undertakings, which makes this category the largest consumer category.
Domestic consumers followed with 1,599.33 GWh. This accounted for 30.72 per cent of total energy consumption edging out small commercial enterprises, which utilised 843.04 GWh, accounting for 16.19 per cent of the overall electrical consumption.
Street lighting utilised 56.48 GWh of electrical energy, representing 1.09 per cent of the total energy consumption.
Electric mobility is a new consumer category developed to encourage electric vehicle adoption.
In the review period, 0.32 GWh powered electric vehicles, constituting 0.01 per cent of the total energy consumption.
"By implementing these measures, EPRA fulfils its commitment to increase the number of companies that have implemented carbon reduction measures to mitigate global climate change, one of the greatest challenges of our time,'' the regulator said.
Kiptoo said that the study provides EPRA with an opportunity to engage sector players actively in formulating homegrown and sector-specific energy efficiency benchmarks agreeable to all parties.
"Once formulated, the benchmarks will used to audit measures put in place by individual companies to save on energy consumption."
The country already has two energy performance regulations, including the Energy (Appliances' Energy Performance and Labelling) Regulations 2016 used to guide the testing and labelling of the electrical appliances sold in Kenya.
It also has the Energy (Energy Management) Regulations 2012, requiring any establishment that consumes more than 180,000kWh per year to conduct an energy audit every three years.
Section 201 of the Energy Act 2019 mandates EPRA to develop and enforce energy efficiency and conservation measures for various sectors.
The section further requires the regulator to set minimum energy performance benchmarks for designated energy-consuming facilities, monitor their compliance, and promote best practices in energy management.