Author: IEE

After 1 year of extensive training on the implementation of EnMS, the IEE project steering committee celebrated the graduation of the first energy management experts qualified from UNIDO during their meeting on 11th March.

Throughout this extensive training, the national experts were able to do a complete energy audit on a large scale enterprise and produce an energy audit report. Now these national experts have gained the knowledge as well as technical expertise on energy management system and are certified as energy management local experts.

At the side of his visit to attend the Egypt Economic Conference, the UNIDO Director-General, Mr. Li Yong, visited the regional office in Egypt on the 16th March and launched UNIDO’s new solar energy project on the 17th March.

During his meeting with UNIDO – Egypt staff members, he praised the efforts exerted by them and highlighted the importance of upscaling and expanding UNIDO activities in Egypt. He also stressed on the importance of focusing on UNIDO’s competitive advantage being the promotion and acceleration of inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) in developing countries and economies in transition.

Li yong and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Small and Medium Size Enterprises, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour launched a new solar energy project that will focus on developing local capacities to manufacture solar energy products and components that are in compliance with international quality norms, with the objective of pursuing ISID. It is expected to bring in considerable investments from the private sector to support building the solar industry within Egypt, allowing it to play a leading role in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Iron and steel industry is considered one of the most important pillars of the Egyptian Industry, and upon which many significant plants were established and the economy was based on. Cement industry comes in the second place, following petroleum among industries that contribute to the national economy. It supports the national economy by 60 billion USD annually. Despite importance, these sectors face many problems including: high production costs and irregular supply of essential energy, which in fact re-emphasizes the importance of energy efficiency to ensure the sectors’ competitiveness.

Recognizing the high opportunities for energy savings using energy management systems in these sectors, the Egyptian Organization for Standardization (EOS) in cooperation with the IEE project held the third workshop for introducing EnMS inside the industrial facilities on Thursday, 15th January at the EOS premises.
The workshop aimed at raising the awareness of decision makers, in the cement and iron and steel sectors, about the importance of applying EnMS, its requirements, benefits and energy rationalization alternatives. This workshop represents a practical example of UNIDO’s approach to transfer knowledge and expertise to national experts and create local ownership.

Following the participation of staff of Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals Company (SIDPEC) in the UNIDO EnMS training programme delivered within the IEE project and the success demonstrated by the company in implementing Energy Management System (EnMS) and obtaining ISO 50001 which resulted in savings up to 10% of its energy consumed using no cost measures, UNIDO and Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (ECHEM) agreed to cooperate on starting the first peer to peer network within the petrochemicals sector by supporting experts trained at SIDPEC to transfer their knowledge and expertise to staff of all companies in the petrochemicals sector.

SIDPEC staff carried out the first training session to companies on March 15th 2015.

This training was attended by a total of 30 participants from 7 companies including SIDPEC.

Energy Efficiency (EE) is the immediate and effective way to reduce the industrial production costs in addition to its role in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and improving the availability of energy supply. It has been widely demonstrated that EE improvements do not require investments and that they can be achieved through applying no-cost/low-cost measures. The Industrial Energy Efficiency (IEE) project believes that achieving significant changes in EE requires integrating EE considerations in the decision-making process within organizations.

On 29 January 2015, HE Dr. Khaled Fahmy, Minister of Environment and HE Dr. Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, Minister of Trade, Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises met with a team of experts working within the IEE project in Egypt to discuss the plan for the development of a national strategy and roadmap to promote Industrial Energy Efficiency in Egypt. The strategy identifies the vision, objectives and priorities, with a focus on the current situation in Egypt in terms of energy availability, usage, supply and efficiency.

The meeting displayed the high level commitment of both Ministries to support energy efficiency in the industrial sector. It also gave a good momentum for the first consultation workshop, which took place on 24 and 25 February 2015, which was attended by an experienced team representing relevant ministries, and governmental organizations. The team provided their inputs to the proposed strategy in order to ensure its effectiveness with regard to industrial EE in Egypt.

The aim of the workshop was: Present key insights on the current anatomy of IEE in Egypt and receive input from workshop participants

Align on the proposed IEE vision
Align on the strategic objectives
Generate potential actions to achieve objectives and mitigate challenges, and finally
Agree on policy filters and phasing criteria.

IEE project provided the necessary technical support for Sidpec company for petrochemicals to achieve ISO 50001 in applying EnMS to improve energy efficiency consumed in the industrial processes. This achievement is attained through strong partnership with IEE project in Egypt, implemented by the UNIDO and financed by the GEF in cooperation with Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Industry, Trade Small and Medium Enterprises and the Federation of Egyptian Industries.

Eng. Ahmed Helmy, Chairman of the company, stated that he is proud that this company was ISO 50001 certified which ensures the company’s commitment towards applying EnMS. He mentioned that applying EnMS in production processes will save up to 10% of the energy consumed using simple, no cost measures. Eng. Helmy added that receiving the ISO certificate reflects the staff commitment in quality management to promote energy efficiency and achieve sustainable development.

It is worth mentioning that achieving the ISO 50001 is a result of the technical support provided by the UNIDO. The company’s staff was trained on the means of applying EnMS and auditing the procedures and practices according to the international standards to achieve the maximum savings of the consumed energy without affecting production process or quality. This contributes in reducing production cost, increasing the production and quality and thus maximizing the profit and competitiveness. Also, it aims at decreasing the negative environmental impacts and reducing emissions which in turn contributes to environment protection.

As UNIDO believes in sharing successful models, and as Sidpec company is one of the companies that gained technical support from IEE project in Egypt – a project that prepare national cadres capable of increasing the awareness and applying EnMS in industry – Sidpec company will transfer the knowledge gained and apply EnMS in petrochemicals companies with support from the Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding company.

A coordination meeting was held on Sunday, 17th August 2014 in the IEE project office. The meeting was initiated by the EEAA Central Department for Climate Change aiming at discussing synergies, means of cooperation and possibilities of unifying efforts between various projects. The meeting was attended by representatives from the IEE project, the Egyptian German Joint Committee on Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency and Environmental Protection (JCEEE), UNDP representative as well as the Low Emission Capacity Building project (LECB). This meeting is aligned with the IEE project’s ultimate goal which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by establishing a policy environment that enables and supports sustainable adoption of energy efficient technologies and management as an integral part of industries’ business practices.

On the 24th November, IEE launched an induction course in Energy Management Systems (EnMS). The course presents a methodological, organized approach to managing energy usage, based on the ISO 50001 standard. In this induction course, the IEE project targeted 12 consultants who will be responsible for developing and implementing EnMS in different facilities.

This is the first time to have this training course delivered by two national experts Dr. Abdel Hamid Beshara and Eng. Marwa Samir after building their capacities by international consultants through the IEE project and now they are transferring acquired knowledge to a group of national trainees which clearly proves that knowledge has been transferred from international consultants to national experts.

The European Union (EU) in cooperation with the Ministry of Petroleum and the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy organized “the First Euro-Egyptian Energy Day” on Friday 21st November 2014 at Aquarium Grotto Garden in Zamalek to highlight the important role of individuals in saving energy.

HE Dr. Khaled Fahmy, Minister of Environment, stated that there is a huge need to use new and renewable energy not only because the increase in population but the increasing needs of individuals as well. He mentioned that Egypt is facing an energy challenge resulting from entire dependence on fossil fuels such as natural gas and oil, referring that the current crisis requires developing a future energy strategy.

HE Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, Minister of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises, declared that diversifying energy resources and developing new and renewable energies is important. HE Abdel Nour mentioned that energy is vital to industry, as it creates job opportunities and encourage industrial production.

Dr. Anhar Hegazy, Head of the Energy Efficiency unit at the Information and Descision Support Center (IDSC), stated that the selection of EU of this place reflects the importance given to citizens and raising awareness in an entertaining atmosphere to capture their interest.

Dr. Anhar added that energy saving awareness campaigns should include interacting activities as well as engaging citizens directly to ensure their response towards saving energy.

On behalf of the Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mr. Mohamed Mousa Omran, secretary general of the Minister, stated that electric energy is the basic foundation for all projects. He stated that around 1000 megawatt can be saved daily only if the citizens power off unused equipments.

Ambassador James Moran, EU Ambassador in Cairo, stated that the EU have been witnessing successes in the field of renewable energy and emissions reduction, this is reflected in the participation of a number of Egyptian ministries in this event.

In the annual celebration of the World Standardization Day for the year 2014, which the member states of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) celebrate, the Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality (EOS) organized an event “standards ensure fair opportunities”. The event was held under the auspicious of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Small and Medium Enterprises on Sunday 16th November 2014 at Semeramis Hotel.

HE Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, Minister of Industry, Trade and Small and Medium Enterprises announced that 3 Egyptian companies working in the fields of food, textiles and petrochemicals won the 1st places of the Arab quality award presented by the Arab Organization for Industrial Development and Mining.

HE Abdel Nour demonstrated that these awards are considered an international testimony that confirms the commitment of the Egyptian industry in applying the International quality standards and competitiveness in local and global markets.

Eng. Gihan Bayoumi, National Project Coordinator of the IEE project stressed on the importance of improving EE and introduced EnMS as well as services and trainings offered by the project. Moreover, she referred to economic savings that industrial organizations could achieve through no cost / low cost interventions identified along the implementation of EnMS.

It is worth mentioning that Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (Sidpec) Company, Arab award winner, is one of the companies implementing energy management systems (EnMS) through the IEE project.