Abstract:
South Africa is one of the most industrialised countries in Africa. The country is extremely
energy-intensive for a number of reasons, which include a lack of awareness of energy
efficiency and demand-side management (DSM), the low cost of electricity, the absence of
energy conservation regulations and standards, lack of driving force, limited experience and
track record of energy service companies as well as the financial viability of projects.
It is anticipated that South Africa will have run out of excess capacity by 2007, a fact that is
forcing Eskom to take action to reduce peak demand by means of certain initiatives. This in turn
has led to electricity becoming more expensive during certain periods of the day. The result is
an increasing need for energy efficiency and demand-side management by end users,
regulating bodies and Government. It is, however, critical that projects, implemented under the
above-mentioned barriers, deliver impacts that can be sustained over time, otherwise the
benefits would only be short-term and of no value to the stakeholders.
Measurement and verification are important and necessary aspects of any energy-efficiency,
demand-side management or dean development mechanism (CDM) project. It allows for the
objective quantification of the project's impacts by a third party, thus lending credibility to the
project outcomes. Its greatest benefit, if conducted correctly, is the increased sustainability of
projects and their impacts.
Energy efficiency also makes a direct contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions. The fact that South Africa is able to participate in greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation
through the clean development mechanism offers an opportunity to increase the financial
viability of energy-efficiency projects, whilst achieving GHG mitigation. Once again
measurement and verification would be critical to the success and sustainability of these
energy-related greenhouse gas mitigation projects over time.
A need was subsequently identified to develop an integrated approach that provides a clear
methodology that could be applied to accurately quantify and verify the savings and impacts that
emanate from energy efficiency, demand-side management and greenhouse gas mitigation
projects. If applied correctly, the integrated approach would help with the sustainable
implementation of energy efficiency, demand-side management and greenhouse gas mitigation
projects in South Africa.
This study proposes such an integrated approach that provides a methodology that builds on
international protocols. It provides a flexible, clear, accurate and transparent methodology to
assist in the sustainable implementation of projects.
The integrated methodology has been accepted as the standard by which South Africa's
parastatal utility, Eskom, prefers implementation together with measurement and verification on
their DSM-funded projects. The approach has proved to be flexible, transparent and replicable.
It has facilitated better project implementation on a number of occasions and proved to provide
accurate and verified results to all the stakeholders, which include the demand impact during
each time-of-use (TOU) period, the impact on electricity consumption, the impact on the monthly
and annual electricity accounts of end users and the environmental impacts such as GHG
emissions and water consumption.
