5th Roundtable EP (B2G) - Energy Group "EnEffi +EMS"

In cooperation with the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) the AHK Chile is implementing the Roundtable Energy Partnership. Within the framework of the German-Chilean Energy Partnership, relevant energy and technology topics are discussed here with German and Chilean participants.

The fifth round table, this time on the topic "Energy Efficiency and Energy Management Systems" took place on April 28.

Gabriel Prudencio, Head of the Sustainable Energy Division at the Ministry of Energy presented the new energy efficiency law, according to which large consumers (consumption over 50 Tcal/year) must report annually on their energy consumption and introduce energy management systems which cover at least 80% of their energy consumption. Prudencio underlined the importance of a systematic energy management with new technologies and staff training. In this respect, guides and training courses developed by the Agency for Energy Sustainability (AgenciaSE) are available.

Benjamin Flaig from the German company Ritter Sport explained that "making really good chocolate means taking care of everything from the responsible sourcing of raw materials to saving resources in production". Flaig is responsible for the implementation and maintenance of the energy management system according to ISO 50001 as well as the improvement of energy efficiency in the entire production process. Among the measures taken, an energy centre was inaugurated in 2015 and the combined heat (1,600 kW power), cooling (700 kW power) and power (1,280 kW power) plant was commissioned.  "Our Energy Monitoring System allows us to save around 500,000 Euro per year by controlling the consumption of gas, water and electricity and thus enabling transparency over the entire process, the identification of savings potentials, benchmarking and preventive maintenance."

Leonardo Varas, Process Maintenance Engineer at Agrosuper shared the experiences with an existing energy management system in the food industry in Chile. In 2020, the company achieved a 1.5% reduction in energy consumption compared to the previous year, mainly due to the automation of its production facilities and particularly with good results in the area of refrigeration. "Our goal is to promote a rational and efficient use of energy, adding renewable sources to diversify the company's energy mix," he stressed. Agrosuper, which offers more than 2,000 meat and fish products and has 19,500 employees, consumes 834 GWh per year, a figure that Varas says is expected to decrease by improving its energy management.

The next Roundtable within the framework of the Chile-Germany Energy Partnership will take place on 19 May. Furthermore, a virtual Study Tour to Germany with focus on "Electromobility with Hydrogen" was announced for May 2021.

The Energy Partnership between Chile and Germany started in April 2019. The partners are the German Ministry of Economics and Climate Action (BMWK) and the Chilean Ministry of Energy.