Ekodoma Ltd Latvia

Demand side management in Valmiera MUNEE program in Latvia

Ekodoma Ltd, Latvia
Summary
The project has been implemented in Latvia, in Valmiera municipality. The project was started in July 2002 and will last until beginning of 2003. The project concerns the implementation of DSM for three-selected buildings in Valmiera, choosing and implementing energy efficiency measures. The project has achieved energy savings for 356 MWh/year and CO2 emission reduction of 94 tCO2/year. Important result will be as well as the change in behaviour of Latvian municipalities towards energy efficiency projects and DSM. The main sources of funding have been MUNEE program financed by USAID and Valmiera council. End-user area Target Audience Technical New buildings Citizens Energy efficiency Refurbishment of buildings Households Heating Transport and mobility Property owners Cooling Financial instruments Schools and universities Appliances Industry Decision makers Lighting Legal initiatives (municipal Local and regional CHP regulations, directives, etc) authorities Planning issues Transport companies District Heating Sustainable communities Utilities Solar energy User behaviour ESCOs Biomass Education Architects and engineers Wind Other Financial institutions Geothermal Other Hydro power Other

Context
Demand side management pilot project in Valmiera has been implemented as one of the activities in the framework of MUNEE program - Municipal Network for Energy Efficiency in Latvia. In the past, demand side management (DSM) programs were already carried out in two Latvian municipalities. Latvian consulting company Ekodoma prepared the first DSM program in Latvia, implemented in Ventspils city (approximately 43 000 inhabitants) and according to this DSM program, always Ekodoma, has carried out first energy audits in apartment buildings, setting up different energy efficiency measures for each building.Since that time, Ekodoma has developed a computer model Ekomja for the optimization of energy efficiency measures; the software is available at: www.ekomaja.lv. The experience gained during the project in Ventspils has been successfully used in the pilot project in Valmiera.

Ekodoma Ltd Latvia

Valmiera is the biggest city in Vidzeme region situated in east-south part of Latvia, around 100 km from the capital of Latvia Riga. Nowadays, in Valmiera are living more than 28 thousand inhabitants.

Objectives
The overall objective of the project is to start implementation of the demand side management program in Latvia, by both indicating and implementing sets of energy efficiency measures in three buildings.

Process
The project started in July 2002 and will be completed in the beginning of 2003. 1. Benchmarking method The methodology used for the selection of three buildings has included analysis of energy consumption in each building. Data about heat consumption in 136 dwelling houses were received from Heat Supply Department of Valmiera Council and specialists from Ekodoma have prepared a graph diagram (see figure 1) using all the available information. The graph identified buildings with the highest energy consumptions (over 230 kWh/myear).

450 400 350 kWh/m2 year 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000 m2

Figure 1: energy consumption for buildings in Valmiera.

2. Optimization - computer model The next step has involved the managers of the buildings and the manager of the communal company Valmieras Namsaimnieks in the project. Company Valmieras Namsaimnieks has confirmed their interest in the project and has identified three buildings, in accordance to the above graph, with the highest energy consumptions and as well as where the inhabitants do not have debts for energy consumption.

Ekodoma Ltd Latvia

Specialists of Ekodoma and Valmieras Namsaimnieks have carried out energy audit for the three selected buildings by working in group. In order to provide good solutions for energy efficiency measures in each building, Ekodoma specialized staff have used computer model Ekomja. After introducing the initial data obtained from the auditing, the software has provided different alternatives and optimal solution for each building as: 1st building: isolation of attic 2nd building: isolation of basement 3rd building: isolation of basement The optimization was carried out considering a ceiling on the budget. 3. Social monitoring Figure 2: one of the selected buildings. Social monitoring is under implementation by proposing questionnaires to the inhabitants of the three buildings. In the questionnaire were included general queries about energy efficiency, energy savings etc

Financial resources and partners

MUNEE program is financed by USAID - U.S. Agency for International Development - and the funding for the implementation of the DSM program in Valmiera has been 7 300 Euro. Additionally, Valmiera council will provide loans of around 8 500 Euro for each building (0% interest rate and three years term) to the three selected buildings in order to implement energy efficiency projects. In the project are involved several organisation and institutions as follows: Alliance to Save Energy and MUNEE programme contractor Consulting company Ekodoma, Ltd MUNEE partner. Valmiera city council, and different departments: Heat supply department, financial department as well as department of Estate of Valmiera city council Communal company Valmieras Namsaimnieks

Results
The project is under implementation and therefore there are not real data available, however from calculations the following results will be achieved: 1st building 2nd building 3rd building Energy saved, MWh/year 117 142 97 Economic benefits, Euro/year 3580 4355 2965 Project payback, years 1,4 1,9 2,6 Environmental benefits reduction of 29 41 24 GHG emissions, tCO2/year

Ekodoma Ltd Latvia

Behavioral changes achieved

Latvian municipalities and residential sector will be more aware about possibilities for implementing DSM project. Concerning inhabitants, questionnaires will be analyzed in December 2002.

Lessons learned and repeatability

The positive aspects of project implementation were that the municipality has obtained experience in implementation of DSM program, energy efficiency measures are implemented in three buildings achieving energy savings, pilot projects showed ways to start GHG emission trading, there has been a raising of awareness of energy efficiency measures in residential sector and the residential sector obtained knowledge about financing scheme: loan from municipality. One of the most important factors which guarantees success or failure of the project is the human factor. Additionally it is significant to choose the right buildings (buildings which have big heat energy consumption and losses) and not those, which are suggested by some manager. It is of great importance to make energy audits and economical analyses of energy efficiency measures. There is need to prepare additional different financial schemes, for example, third party financing with involvement of ESCO. The project has very high replication level in Latvia and other post-socialism countries.

Contact for more information:

Organisation / Agency: Main contact: Address: Tel: Fax: E-mail: Web Site: Ekodoma, Ltd. Marika Blumberga Noliktavas street 3-3, Riga, LV1010, Latvia +371 7 323212 +371 7 323210 marika@ekodoma.lv www.ekodoma.lv