Energy management
On October 25 2012, the European Commission adopted Directive 2012/27 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy efficiency (from now on – the Directive), which aims to reduce Member States’ dependence on energy imports, limit climate change and promote energy-efficient economies. The Directive sets out a series of measures to achieve the overall energy efficiency target of 20% of the European Union’s primary energy consumption by 2020 and further improvements beyond 2020. The legal norms arising from the Directive have been implemented in the Republic of Latvia’s legislation by adopting the Energy Efficiency Law on March 3, 2016 (from now on – the Law).
The Law defines a large electricity consumer as a merchant whose annual electricity consumption exceeds 500 megawatt-hours. The Law stipulates that a large electricity consumer must implement and maintain a certified energy management system standard, covering 90% of the total final energy consumption (Section 12 of the Law).
Improvement measures
Heat production and supply company Ltd. "Salaspils Siltums", since 2010 has taken several measures to improve energy efficiency- replacement of heating mains, installation of modern and efficient equipment, reduction of significant heat losses, the introduction of remote data reading system. In order to promote the diversification of fuel production, a wood chip boiler house was built, which was supplemented with a flue gas condenser, thus increasing the overall efficiency of the wood chip boiler house.
For several years, Ltd. "Salaspils Siltums" has paid increased attention to energy management in the company, following the efficiency of production processes, resource consumption, heat losses on the heating mains, etc. Continuing the development, the company decided to certify the established energy management system according to the requirements of the LVS EN ISO 50001: 2018 standard to ensure continuous improvement of the energy management system.
Energy management policy
The energy management policy of the heat production supply company Ltd. "Salaspils Siltums", is the basis for all stages of reconstruction and improvement in the company, including aspects of planning, implementation, operation and performance evaluation.
Ltd. “Salaspils Siltums” during its operations and improvements is primarily based on the following core values:
- rational use of resources and energy;
- activities based on knowledge, experience and calculations;
- health and safety of workers;
- mutual cooperation and communication in the company;
- continuous improvement of the management system.
To achieve this, the following main steps are being taken:
- compliance of the energy management system with the regulatory enactments that apply to the company's energy use, consumption and energy efficiency is ensured;
- a working group of the company's energy management has been established, which holds regular meetings so that the responsible employees can tackle topical issues;
- training of employees on the implementation, maintenance and improvement of energy management is provided, emphasizing the importance of the system in operation and development of the company;
- a monitoring system has been developed, where values are fixed at certain time intervals to monitor the compliance of the energy efficiency criteria selected by the company - indicators with the set limits;
- supported the purchase of energy-efficient products and equipment to increase the company's energy performance;
- regular performance of energy management system management reviews is ensured, in which energy efficiency indicators and opportunities for their improvement are reviewed.