The Energy and Water Agency organized a conference aimed for the industry and services sector to further promote energy efficiency in their operations, entitled Promoting Energy Efficiency in the Industry and Services Sector. Different to other editions, this conference included a site visit for attendees to see first hand how energy efficiency measures can be implemented.
Through his opening presentation, head of Energy Policy within the Agency, Ing. Charles Buttigieg highlighted the efforts of the Agency in this sector including the Energy Efficiency Partner Initiative scheme and the Energy Audit scheme for SMEs.
Guest speaker Aristotelis Botzios-Valaskakis from the Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving talked about the EU funded project called Steam Up with case studies carried out within Small and Medium Enterprises in Greece. The primary aim of this project was to promote the implementation of energy efficiency measures in steam systems within industries. This project also resulted in a capacity building program that includes training and coaching-on-the-job of over 500 energy auditors, ESCOs, internal energy managers and energy management training providers. This also led to the implementation of 75 energy audits in industries in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands and Spain. Training and inspections led to industries reducing their numerous steam leaks within their operations and therefore increasing their energy efficiency.
The Energy and Water Agency has also embarked on a new project whereby it will be creating and implementing a new Research and Innovation Strategy for Energy and Water. A public consultation in this regard has also been launched, and through her presentation, Elisabeth Cremona from the Strategy Unit within the Agency has given an overview of this strategy and what it aims to deliver within these sectors.
The Promoting Energy Efficiency in the Industry and Services Sector conference gave the opportunity to the winner of the 2019 Energy and Water Sustainability Award to present their winning project Chilled Water Network. This year's winner was De La Rue, and through their presentation it was highlighted how this project was able to address Malta's key energy and water management priorities, and how this project can be replicated in other sectors, amongst others.
The Malta Business Bureau gave an update on the progress of the newly launched Business Energy Cluster.
Malta Enterprise also presented the Investment Aid for Energy Efficiency Projects which is an investment aid provided by the Malta Enterprise, allowing the industry to carry out projects to increase energy efficiency in their operations.
The Intercontinental Hotel was kind enough to lead site visits in their premises as part of the conference, where attendees where able to see the upgrading and renovation works that they have undertaken in the past months to increase their energy efficient efforts.
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