Author: Goce Trpkovski, Macedonia

By implementing  ISO 50001 standard for energy efficiency, Macedonian electric power distribution company EVN Macedonia, part of Austrian EVN, will help some of its largest consumers improve their energy efficiency.

The company is already taking part in the second stage of the program for implementing a system of energy management in order to achieve ISO 50001, and is willing to help clients that show interest. EVN’s plan is to provide expertise for other companies after finishing the program, and guide them towards using energy more efficiently. This is expected to cut the companies’ costs and improve their competitiveness.

“Our goal is to establish partnership with the companies in introducing advanced technologies and standards that would make them stronger and would boost the development of the society”, says Stefan Peter, chairman of EVN Macedonia’s management board.

A workshop already took place on Friday, March 17 for enhancing the market transformation for energy efficiency in the industry. It involved representatives of EVN Macedonia and of 11 companies consuming on average 3 GWh of electricity per year. EVN announced it will work together with the companies trying to improve their energy efficiency. The goal of the workshop was to encourage the investment in the best practices and technologies in energy efficiency. It was organized by the Regional Environmental Center (REC) office in Skopje, aided by the Global Environmental Fund (GEF), UNIDO, REC, USAID, as well as the Macedonian Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, the Ministry of Economy, the National Energy Agency, and the Macedonian Bank for Development Promotion.

In the upcoming period EVN representatives will hold separate meetings with all participating companies in order to develop tailor-made models for strengthening their capacities to implement energy management systems, according to the ISO 50001 standard. The further steps of the cooperation between the electric power distributor and its clients shall be decided on those meetings.

According to Macedonia’s Strategy for Energy Efficiency, the country should reduce energy use by 9% by 2018, compared to the reference five-year period between 2002 and 2006.