Improving DSM project implementation and sustainability through ISO standards

Energy service companies (ESCos) have been assisting Eskom, South Africa's leading electricity utility, in implementing and managing energy projects around the country. However, the need for a sustainable energy management system (EnMS) within the Demand Side Management (DSM) projects does exist. An EnMS was designed to achieve the maximum possible energy savings performance on these projects. Three relevant International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards were integrated into the development and implementation of this system. It provides a framework for project engineers and industrial clients to apply before, during and after project implementation. The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle was applied throughout this article and follows the basic steps recommended by the relevant ISO standards. This cycle emphasises the concept of continual improvement. This article illustrates that the continual improvement of an ISO based EnMS will result in a sustainable increase in electricity savings. An overall increase in project quality can thus be defined and measured according to the electricity consumptions and electricity cost savings. The proposed EnMS was thus implemented and studied on five mines. The electricity cost savings from the selected projects resulted to nearly Rl8-million during project implementation. The EnMS therefore indicates that a continually controlled framework can improve the quality of DSM project implementation and sustainability. With the flexibility of changing the system according to impulsive constraints and client demands, the system can be used with various DSM projects.