Govt, EU seek ways to boost electricity capacity

• New management system to achieve 20% energy savings

The European Union, German Government and the Federal Government yesterday commenced efforts to promote the use of the International Standard (ISO 50001) for Energy Management System (EnMS) in Nigeria.

The implementation of the EnMS is expected to lead to a minimum of 20% energy savings. Through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the scheme is also expected to contribute to the fight against climate change.

Policy makers in Nigeria’s industrial and energy sectors yesterday participated in a special training programme in Abuja to explore ways of increasing the nation’s capacity for implementation of the scheme in line with international best practice.

Head of Programme for the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP), Ina Hommers described EnMS as a proven method for sustainable energy efficiency and improved performance in industries across the world.

He encouraged stakeholders to commit to the successful implementation of the ISO 50001.

Director, Planning, Research and Statistics at the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Justice Eka, spoke of a coming legislation that would promote the use of energy efficient variants of refrigerators, air conditioners and other appliances.

He said: “The reason for this meeting is to look at how we can better manage energy. We all know that we are a nation that is bedevilled with insufficient energy supply. We need to manage the little that we have appropriately.”

Eka maintained, “Incidentally, there exists an international standard that organizations use to reduce their energy consumption. That Standard is titled ISO 50001. It is an Energy Management System standard. What that standard does is that it gives the organization guidelines on what it needs to do to establish a management system that would enable it to continuously reduce its energy consumption.”

The SON planning director added that it demands the organization to first of all establish a policy of their energy use and consumption, set objectives and target of how much energy they want to reduce usage and then monitor and track the progress of the achievement of that objective.”

Assistant Director in the Renewable Energy Department, Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Farouk Yusuf, stressed that the training was for high-level policy makers for the introduction of energy management standard.