Resource efficiency and cleaner production specialist the National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa (NCPC-SA) is expanding its industrial energy efficiency training programme to include water efficiency and waste minimisation courses, the centre’s green skills development manager, Wynand van der Merwe, tells Engineering News.

The NCPC-SA training, presented since 2010, has until now focused on industrial energy efficiency and offers consulting and plant engineers training on how to plan and implement energy efficiency initiatives across all industry sectors.

Van der Merwe says, when the training programme was introduced in 2010, the industrial energy efficiency training was offered at an introductory and advanced level, with certain graduates of the advanced training proceeding to expert level.

He explains that, since 2012, the NCPC-SA has been offering advanced and expert-level training in energy management systems and energy systems optimisation using five key industrial systems, namely fans, pumps, electric motors, compressed air and steam systems.

“The broader resource efficiency training, which incorporates water and waste, will follow the same pattern, and will initially be offered at an introductory and advanced level. We are in the final stages of developing the expert-level course and it is expected that some of the advanced course delegates for 2015 will enrol in the expert-level training early next year,” highlights Van der Merwe.

Van der Merwe says the key success factor of the expert-level training, in particular, is the combination of classroom learning and on-site training in industry plants.

The NCPC-SA also supports the engineers and companies that take its courses to implement efficiency strategies.

“In addition to substantive energy savings for the companies that we have trained, many of the consulting engineers that have gone through our training have informed us that they are able to offer their clients a wider range of services, which has, in turn, resulted in a demand increase for their services,” he details.

Further, most of the consultancies that have been through NCPC-SA’s energy efficiency training programme have increased their staff complements, grown their businesses’ bottom line and contributed to job creation in the country, he notes.

About the Training
NCPC-SA has been offering energy efficiency training for industry through its Industrial Energy Efficiency (IEE) project since 2010. The courses were developed in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation to build capacity among professionals in South Africa’s engineering and related fields in the skills needed to ensure sustainable energy savings in the manufacturing and mining sectors.

The training course comprises a two-day workshop for advanced level and expert-level training, as well as practical in-plant training and actual implementation. The programme takes between six and nine months to complete.

According to NCPC-SA, the IEE project has assisted more than 80 industry plants to save enough energy to electrify 120 000 middle- income South African homes for 12 months.

A total energy saving of 866 GWh was achieved by participating companies which, at energy prices of 2011 to 2014, equates to a financial saving of R759-million and carbon-emissions offset of 800 000 t of carbon dioxide.

Since its inception in early 2010, the programme has trained more than 2 500 professionals in specialist energy efficiency management and supported national government to develop policies, strategies and standards to enable energy efficiency.

Van der Merwe explains that, owing to the IEE project being subsidised by the departments of Trade and Industry and Energy, it is offered at rates that are often three times lower than similar programmes offered by private institutions.

“This is to stimulate demand for and participation in energy efficiency training in order to develop national capacity,” concludes Van der Merwe.

NCPC–SA is a programme of the Department of Trade and Industry, hosted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.