With global spread of the new variant of COVD-19, omicron, international team members faced enhanced restrictions for international travel. In the month of January/2022, international members conducted their activities remotely, while national members led the work including the following.
1. Support for NOC issuance
The opening month of this new year 2022, started with a new NOC issuance to IDCOL from SREDA, which is expected to contribute to expediting the upcoming loan fund utilization. SREDA took initiative to provide with the speediest evaluation of the application along with the support from the PI consulting team members.
On Sunday 16/January/2022, IDCOL submitted their sub-project loan NOC request application number AD21110101 (dated on 13/January/2022) to SREDA for the installation of energy efficient roving frame, automatic winder and higher efficiency gas engine with co-generation by utilizing waste heat. In response to NOC application, on 27/January/2022 SREDA issued an NOC certificate with their comments to the eligibility of the equipment.
2. Contributions to GoB Training
SREDA has been conducting a substantial number of training programs on different sectors in the country and PI consulting team members are contributing in a direct, as well as indirect manner to realize attractive and fruitful training sessions. In January 2022, SREDA hold four batches of each two day long online training programs, targeting the industry sector. Industrial sector is one of the major energy consuming sectors and there has been identified a significant scope of energy saving potential. Process and machinery modifications and implementation of technological advancements in industries is required to be popularized. Also, energy management practice in industries will play a vital role for achieving energy efficiency.
The 3rd batch of training program on Energy Efficiency & Conservation in Common Technology was held on 4and 5 /January/ 2022. It was offered to the senior level officers & engineers of BCIC, BSEC and Ministry of Industries. On 4/January/2022, three of PI consultant team members presented their lectures at session 2 & 3.
In session 2, Mr. Shah Zulfiqar Haider, Peng, Technical Adviser, provided his lectures on “the Benefits of Improving Energy Efficiency” and “Energy Consumption in various Industries”, while Mr. Yoshihiko KATO, Team Leader supplemented the lecture with some comments.
In session 3, Mr. Md. Masood Rahman Khan, Energy Audit Expert, provided lecture on “Monitoring and Evaluation – Monetary Benefits from energy savings and Energy Economics”.
On 11 and 12/January/2022, the 4th batch of training program on Energy Efficiency & Conservation in Common Technology was held. It also targeted the senior level officers & engineers of BCIC, BSEC and Ministry of Industries. On 11/January/2022, three of our PI team members presented their lectures at session 2 & 3 as batch 3. In this sessions, Mr. Yoshihiko KATO, Team Leader; Mr. Shah Zulfiqar Haider, Peng, Technical Advisor; and Mr. Md. Masood Rahman Khan, Energy Audit Expert, provided their lectures as in the 3rd batch.
The trainings are expected to encourage some of the participants to consider accessing to EECPFP for introduction of the recommended common technologies. Both batch’s lectures were found very interactive with questions received from the participants.
3. Awareness raising activities
As seen in the monthly report in November 2021, four out of eight billboards were already installed in October and November 2021. Finally, the rest of the billboards were installed in December 2021 and January 2022. They will continue to be displayed for one year. The location and installation date are shown in Table 1, and their photos are presented in Fig 5.
Table 1 Details of installed billboards
| Location of Billboard | Size | Installation Date | |
| 1 | Dhaka Mawoa Highway, Dhaka | 1200 sft. | December 23,2021 |
| 2 | Patch Char, Bhanga, Madaripur (Barisal) | 1200 sft | November 29,2021 |
| 3 | Aushkandi Toll, Dhaka-Sylhet Highway | 1600 sft | November 14, 2021 |
| 4 | Elius Pump, Kumira, Dhaka-CTG Highway | 1200 sft | October 30, 2021 |
| 5 | Natun Rasta Mor. Khulna | 1000 sft. | November 3, 2021 |
| 6 | Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway, Mymensingh | 1200 sft. | January 5, 2022 |
| 7 | Rajshahi-Dhaka Highway, Rajshahi | 1200 sft. | January 1, 2022 |
| 8 | Dhaka-Rangpur Highway, Rangpur | 1200 sft. | December 1, 2021 |
4. Feedback on energy audit
The PI consultants conducted energy audit in November/2021 in sub-project sites and provided findings based on data collection during energy audit. Feedback meetings were held through online platform. Main discussed points are findings on energy efficiency and savings opportunities. In addition, discussions were held on how to improve MIS reporting. Currently, all audited sub-projects have provided energy and production data for entire factory. Summary of the feedback meetings are presented below.
Table 2 Summary of energy audit feedback meetings
| Name & date | Discussed topics | Remarks |
| Tosrifa Industries Ltd.(11/Jan/2022) | Fabric Unit: Once through boiler efficiency compared with previous audit, load ratio of boiler, insulation of steam valves.Garments Unit: Energy consumption of sewing machine.Improvement of MIS reporting. | As per sub-project owner’s, it is not feasible to set another meter for sewing machines, since line of sewing machines consumes very less amount of energy. |
| Bandhab Tex Ltd.(27/Jan/2022) | Automatic winders energy savings ratio, energy consumption of ring frame & air compressor, air quality & lighting level of production zone and improvement of MIS reporting. | As per sub-project owner’s, there is no separate meter for winders section. Therefore, it is not possible to provide energy data for winders only. |
5. Preparation for textbooks for certified energy managers
The PI consultants supported SREDA to prepare for the textbooks for certified energy managers. SREDA plans to conduce examination to certify energy managers. Energy managers will have to be appointed by Designated Consumers, which SREDA plans to identify and designate shortly.
6. MIS Sub-projects Data Inventory Checking
The case of an authorised sub-project, with an NOC from SREDA and loan sanctioned by an IFI, was deemed to be a firm case where the Project loan will eventually be used. There has been one exceptional case of SD18081601, for which SREDA NOC was issued back on 13th January 2019, had to be written off from the sub-project list. This was due to an unusual change of policy within the sub-project owner, not to go for the investment after having obtained the loan sanction. The PI Consultant Team, after discussions with IDCOL, decided to close the sub-project on the Project MIS so that it will no longer appear on the sub-project and its related reports. However, the MIS was not designed to write off any sub-projects, as such was not expected, hence the process had to be done manually from the backend of the system administration. The PI Consultant Team’s ICT system experts at CSL Software Resources carefully manoeuvred the database to close the said sub-project. As the consequence, the total number of ongoing sub-project became 22 by the end of the month.
Appendices
Appendix 29-1: “Energy Consumption in various Industries, Benefits of Improving Energy Efficiency” for Training Program on Energy Efficiency & Conservation in Common Technology (3rd Batch) (4/Jan/2022)
Appendix 29-2: “Monitoring and Evaluation – Monetary Benefits from energy savings and Energy Economics” for Training Program on Energy Efficiency & Conservation in Common Technology (3rd Batch) (4/Jan/2022)
Appendix 29-3: Energy audit feedback for Tosrifa Industries
Appendix 29-4: Energy audit feedback for Bandhab