What if all the economic players in the same district or industrial park decided to join forces with the aim of improving their energy performance? The new ISO 50009 guidelines available in the AFNOR Collection provide support and guidance for organizations looking to work together in building a common energy management system.

Six months after the French government unveiled its plan to get the economy back on track, which gives special focus to promoting the low-carbon industry, the first winners of the “Biomass Heat” call for projects have just been announced. For example, the Bel Group is going to install a 6.6 MW biomass heating system to power its cheese dairy in Evron in France’s Mayenne region. Just like the other candidates, the company prepared, built and submitted its project without any outside help. But that was before the new ISO 50009 standard came on the scene. A mechanism is now available where companies of any size can join forces with other neighbouring organizations in complete transparency and set up collaborative projects to save energy and reduce their carbon footprint. The goal is to raise the efficiency bar by improving the overall system, while sharing the operating and investment costs. As an added bonus, these collaborative efforts can help local regions achieve their energy and environmental performance objectives even faster.

The idea was masterminded in Japan in the wake of the Fukushima accident 10 years ago and the authorities’ decision to close its range of nuclear power plants. In a bid to compensate for the loss in electricity production, several organizations with a helping hand from the Ministry for the Environment launched a number of joint energy projects. A prime example is the city of Sapporo, which shared the strategy across 550 public and private buildings (offices, shopping centres, hospitals and schools). Although some parties have run into a number of difficulties and continue to harbour suspicious about the initiative, this collaborative approach has produced significant results with an average increase in energy efficiency of 20%. In some cases, that figure is as high as 60%. The same positive effects have been reported across the entire supply chains of a major manufacturer of air conditioners and a mass retailer.

ISO 50009: promoting easier collaboration

Empowered by the initiative’s success, Japan invited the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2016 to create a new set of guidelines for “implementing a common energy management system in multiple organizations” (ISO 50009). Organizations wishing to apply this non-certifiable (and voluntary!) standard follow the usual process for implementing an energy management system (EnMS) as defined in ISO 50001, such as carrying out an initial review, establishing the scope and boundaries, and then fixing the goals before rolling out an action plan. “Not only does this new standard feature a well-known approach for implementation,” explains Sylvie Fernandez, Project Leader for Transport and Energy Standardization at AFNOR, “but it also provides a roadmap for working together to build a wide-ranging strategy for improving energy performance.” »

“The key point with this methodology is that it first focuses on setting up an appropriate governance structure between organizations sharing the same interests,” adds Bertrand Walle, Chair of the AFNOR Standardization Commission, which gave its views and feedback on the draft standard on behalf of France. “The idea is to sit down and define exactly how the energy group is going to operate, such as designating the lead organization, clarifying the shared resources, distributing investments and managing risks over time.” This preliminary step is vitally important to prevent any misunderstandings that could deal the group a fatal blow further down the line. For instance, organizations should anticipate the prospect of a member withdrawing or the risk of a constituent organization becoming insolvent due to the clouded economic outlook.

Common EnMS: safeguarding freedom of action

Another important point is that a common EnMS is restricted to its sole purpose. “If the group’s project is aimed at creating a biomass heating system, the scope for the common EnMS and the distribution of resources according to ISO 50009 will focus exclusively on that objective,” advises Sylvie Fernandez. In other words, the other organizations in the group will not interfere in the scope and boundaries of your own EnMS – you will be the only one in the driving seat.

The standard applies to groups of industrial, tertiary and service organizations, local authorities, associations, and so on. “Not all the organizations need to be at the same level in terms of their expertise in energy management systems,” explains Bertrand Walle. “The lead organization, which is used to managing energy, will guide the other participants and help them up their game, such as by sharing a team of experts.” »

There are no limitations when it comes to the type of collaborative project. You can choose to recover waste heat in industry, install a renewable energy generation system (solar farm, biomass boiler, wind turbine, etc.), share lighting across several stores or even improve an entire supply chain. The scale of the geographic area may also vary tremendously, from the most modest zones to the largest areas, including industrial zones, business parks, airports, shopping centres, residential districts and franchise chains. The bottom line is that ISO 50009 gives constituent organizations freedom of action. “For a project to succeed,” explains Sylvie Fernandez, “it must be strong enough to encourage all stakeholders to sign up.” »

By promoting collaboration, ISO 50009 breaks with the previous tradition of organizations treading a solitary path when improving their energy performance. “This approach could be a game-changer for driving the energy transition,” advises Bertrand Walle. “Efforts will be needed to create a greater form of collective intelligence to improve, as required, the way in which we use an increasingly intermittent and carbon-free energy source.” »