Energy Management System

Energy management, in the most general sense, means an organized, structured, systematic and permanent control of energy flow parameters within an organization, starting from the purchase or production of energy, through the transformation process, until the end use of energy. Here the term energy flow parameters means different quantity and quality parameters that can describe any of the stated processes from the technological, economic and social, as well as from the environmental aspect.

Energy management systems may differ significantly by their structure, scope and complexity, depending on the level on which they are established: national, regional, local or the level of the individual organization or an enterprise. In any case, an energy management system is a part of the integral management system of a country, district, municipality or a company, and it has a certain framework, an established organizational structure and responsibilities within it, specified activities, procedures and methods, as well as necessary resources for the achievement of previously set energy policy goals.

Energy policy goals can be numerous and different, depending on the type of organization, but the following ones are certainly common for all the systems: ensuring the security of energy supply, reduction of energy consumption and costs for energy while achieving or maintaining the optimum quality of the services (comfort, volume and quality of production, etc.), as well as the reduction of the negative environmental impact due to the use of energy, or the performance of the business activity of an organization

The Law on Efficient Use of Energy (The Official Gazette of RS, number 25/13) defines the energy management system in the Republic of Serbia. The energy management system includes a broad set of regulatory, organizational, promotional, technical and other measures and activities which are determined and implemented by the different actors involved in this system, within their scope of competences, including public administration bodies and designated parties of the system. The energy management system is one of the instruments aimed at achieving the objectives of energy efficiency policy at national level, including:

1. Increasing the level of safety of energy supply and efficient use of energy;
2. Increasing the competitiveness of the economy;
3. Reducing negative environmental effects of the energy sector;
4. Promoting responsible practices with respect to energy, based on implementing energy efficiency policies and energy efficiency measures in the sectors of energy production, transmission, distribution and consumption.

The Law prescribes the subjects of the energy management system, their powers and obligations.

The subjects of the energy management system include the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the ministry in charge of energy, designated parties of the energy management system, energy managers and energy auditors.

The ministry in charge of energy has the key operational role in implementing the energy management system because, according to the Law, it drafts and proposes regulations related to energy efficiency, monitors and controls the system implementation by collecting annual reports of relevant actors involved in the system, and maintains the data base relevant to monitoring the system implementation, issues licenses to energy managers and energy auditors and maintains the registry of licenses, plans and determines the time frame of delivering theoretical and practical training courses for physical persons to become energy managers and energy auditors, regulates the manner of applying of interested persons to attend training, organizes training courses for energy managers and energy auditors, organizes examinations for energy managers and energy auditors and issues certificates of passed examinations, etc. The Ministry exercises its control function via energy inspectors.

The designated parties of the energy management system include:

1. Companies whose dominant economic activity is production, if they consume more energy than the quantity prescribed by the Government;
2. Companies whose dominant economic activity is trade and services, if they consume more energy than the quantity prescribed by the Government;
3. Companies whose dominant economic activity is production, but which are not designated parties of the system under the first criterion, but which do posses facilities in the sectors of trade and services and thus cumulatively consume more energy than the quantity prescribed by the Government;
4. Bodies of public administration and other authorities of the Republic of Serbia, bodies of the autonomous province, and bodies of units of local self-government with populations exceeding 20,000 and other public services which use publicly owned buildings.

At the proposal of the minister in charge of energy, the Government determines the annual energy saving targets according to the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan – NEEAP, the energy consumption thresholds determining which companies are to be the designated parties of the system, and the forms used to report on actual energy consumption.

By the Decree determining the thresholds of energy consumption by designated parties of the EMS (the Official Gazette of RS, number 18/16) the Government set the threshold energy consumption for companies whose dominant economic activity is in the production sector for consumption of primary energy at the level of 2500 toe/a (104,67 TJ/a, 29,08 GWh/a). By means of the same Decree, the Government set the threshold quantity of energy consumption for all facilities cumulatively, not differentiating between the dominant economic activity of companies, as consumption of primary energy of 1,000 toe/a (41,87 TJ/a or 11,63 GWh/a). This means that at present the designated parties of the EMS are all companies consuming more than 2500 toe/a of primary energy or having facilities which cumulatively consume more than 1000 toe of primary energy.

The manner of determining the consumption is prescribed by the Decree on determining the thresholds of energy consumption by designated parties of the energy management system in form of forms used for reporting on actual energy consumption.

Designated parties of the energy management system are obliged to achieve the set energy savings targets prescribed by the Government, to file their energy consumption annual reports, to appoint the necessary number of energy managers and to notify the ministry in charge of energy thereof, to adopt their energy efficiency programs and plans, to implement energy efficiency measures, to submit to the ministry in charge of energy their reports on achieving the targets set in their energy efficiency programs and plans, to ensure the implementation of energy audits at least once every five years (designated parties of the system from the public sector at least once every 10 years) and to undertake other activities and measures in accordance with the law.

The basic obligation of the designated parties of the energy management system is to appoint the necessary number of energy managers who successfully completed the training, passed the examination and received the relevant license issued by the ministry in charge of energy. Designated parties may appoint energy managers from the ranks of their employees or can engage them under a contract. According to the law, the obligations of the energy managers are to:

1. Collect and analyze data regarding the manner of energy consumption by the designated party’s system;
2. Draft energy efficiency programs and plans;
3. Propose measures contributing to efficient use of energy and participate in their implementation;
4. Take care of preparation of annual report on achieving the energy savings, or measures and activities contained in the programs and plans;
5. Undertake other activities and measures prescribed by the law.

Since the performance of tasks of energy management require different qualifications for different types of designated parties of energy management system, there are three types of training provided for energy managers. For representatives of companies whose dominant economic activities is in the production sector (industry) the requirement is to undergo specialized training for energy managers for industrial energy sector; for representatives of units of local self-government the requirement is to undergo specialized training for energy managers for municipal energy sector, while for companies with dominant economic activity in the sector of trade and services (buildings) the training for energy managers for buildings. The training program and curriculum are defined by the Rulebook on implementation and contents of training courses for energy managers, costs of attending training, and requirements, the program and taking of examinations for energy managers (The Official Gazette of RS, number 12/15).

In accordance with the Rulebook, the training for all types of energy managers is delivered in two parts. During the first part the participants receive theoretical and practical training and training in the use of specialized software tools, while the second part consists of developing the energy efficiency plan and program and the annual report of the designated party of the energy management system.

The first part of the training lasts for 6 days, consisting of maximum 7 classes per day lasting for 45 minutes, while the second part implies mentoring work with the training participant and cannot last longer than one month.

Theoretical training includes lectures, while the practical training includes working in doing practical exercises in the laboratory using measuring equipment and laboratory equipment. Computer training includes acquiring the ability to use the Energy Management Information System (ISEM), and other specialized software tools.

According to the Rulebook regarding the requirements for HR, equipment and premises for training providers for energy managers and energy auditors, on the basis of the Decree of the Ministry of Mining and Energy, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Belgrade is authorized to deliver training for energy managers and energy auditors.

The checking of acquired knowledge is performed after the completed theoretical and practical training and training for use of specialized software tools, and the training participants must meet requirements on attending lectures as prescribed by the Rulebook. Examination or checking of knowledge from practical training is done by using laboratory equipment and the checking of knowledge for the use of specialized software is performed by using a computer, and that is the end of the first part of training.

Apart from collecting data relevant to energy consumption, the key obligations of energy managers include developing energy efficiency programs, energy efficiency plans, and annual reports on achieving energy goals by the designated party of energy management system. That is why the second part of training is dedicated to developing programs, plans and annual reports for energy management system designated parties, which training participants are to develop with the assistance of their mentors.

After the successfully completed first and second part of training, the participants acquire the right to take the examination for energy managers. The examination is taken in form of a test. Candidates can win the maximum of 100 points for the test. It is considered that the candidate has passed the examination if receiving at least 70 points.

The taking of examinations and the delivery of training shall be uniform for the whole territory of Serbia, and the Ministry shall issue the relevant energy manager licenses to persons who pass the professional examination.

The subjects of the energy management system include also energy auditors who can be legal or physical persons inscribed in the registry of authorized energy auditors maintained by the ministry in charge of energy. The key function of energy auditors is to perform energy audits of buildings and facilities in order to enable designated parties of energy management system and energy managers to have specialized professional support during the collection of data, undertaking energy efficiency review of buildings, facilities and processes, and proposing measures to increase energy efficiency. Energy auditors are obliged after undertaking the energy audit, to provide in written form the energy audit report document. The report shall include, the analysis of energy efficiency of buildings and facilities, and also it shall contain technical-economic analysis of possible improvements of energy characteristics of buildings or possibilities to increase the degree of plant utilization, feasibility of implementing combined power and heat generation, possibility to use renewable energy sources, etc.

Like in the case of energy managers, it is prescribed that energy auditors shall attend the six-day training which they shall finish by taking the professional examination. The training is to be organized by the ministry in charge of energy and will be conducted by Faculty of mechanical engineering, and the ministry shall issue relevant energy auditor licenses to participants who pass this examination. The same ministry shall also maintain a registry of licensed energy auditors.