Fired Up: Massive savings potential identified

12 June 2015

The PSEE has identified more than 2 000 possible savings interventions or opportunities in some 360 of the medium and large companies audited to date. Implementation of these opportunities would save an estimated 115 MW of grid capacity and result in lifetime carbon savings of 3.7 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e).

The average payback period for the interventions is marginally over two years, with more than two-thirds of the interventions having paybacks of less than two years. These do not take into account additional electricity price hikes or incentives mooted in the 2015 Budget speech of the Minister of Finance and are therefore likely to be conservative.

The following are key examples of interventions identified through PSEE surveys:

Intervention	Average Paypack Period
Operational measures	0.33 years
Implementation of carbon and energy management system	0.89 years
Ventilation	0.99 years
Compressed air	1.46 years
Process design and optimisation	1.69 years
Process instrumentation and control systems	1.88 years

The three most recommended interventions are:

Intervention	Payback period
Process heating and cooling	2.1 years
Lighting	2.6 years
Renewable energy sources (primarily solar photovoltaic power)	6.9 years

The massive potential of energy efficiency savings in South Africa is highlighted by these findings. Let the PSEE do the same for your business – contact us today for free expert advice, free energy audits and subsidised larger interventions.