Energy auditing

Challenge

One of the frequent challenges faced by organisations today is inefficient energy management. This can be caused by excessive energy consumption or disadvantageous terms of contracts executed with suppliers that are not properly aligned with the energy consumption profile of the company. In order to verify if the areas listed can generate savings, the organisation should take steps to identify the points of inefficient power supply management.

Carrywater’s solution

The first step of the path towards energy efficiency is to conduct an energy audit or review, which will produce a set of conclusions and recommendations:

• in the area of energy procurement: the way to optimise the parameters of the energy purchase contracts is devised, including the selection of the proper tariff, adjusting the amount of the energy ordered and updating and negotiating the terms of energy supply contracts with the energy supplier,
• in the area of energy use: points of high energy consumption are identified in the individual process steps, organisational units or product categories. Next, changes are proposed and a financial analysis of their implementation is provided.

In addition, Energy Performance Indicators are established for each such point of high energy consumption, along with the baseline energy level, which shall later be used as the starting point for a future evaluation of the effectiveness of the actions taken or investments made. The baseline energy level is often defined as the Energy Intensity Index, defined as the amount of the energy used to manufacture a specific quantity of products.

Business value

Once an impartial and independent evaluation of the areas where energy consumption can be reduced is at hand, optimisation measures can start to be prepared. Parameterising energy consumption areas allows setting specific energy efficiency targets and serves as a reference point whenever a need arises to evaluate performance.

Deliverables

Depending on the scope agreed, our involvement usually produces the following deliverables:

• Energy audit report (compliant with applicable regulations)
• Energy review report
• Definitions and parameters of energy consumption areas
• Energy optimisation action plan
• Tender/procurement documentation for use in the process of selection of electricity supplier