A two-day workshop on “Removal of Barriers to “Energy Efficiency Improvement in Steel Rerolling Sector” was inaugurated here today. The workshop has been organized to sensitize industry and all concerned stakeholders about project activities and expected outcomes, stressing how each category of stakeholders will benefit from this project.
The UNDP/GEF Project for steel rerolling mills seeks to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by improving end-use energy efficiency in the sector, which mainly represents small and medium enterprises (SME). A grant of US $ 6.75 million from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and a matching contribution from the Ministry of Steel will be used to provide technical assistance to the industry over a period of 5-years. The project will enable the steel-rerolling mills to adopt more energy efficient and environment friendly technologies by bridging knowledge gap, developing leadership and enabling private sector investments.
A major thrust of the project is on promotion of environmentally sustainable and viable energy efficient (EE) technologies in a market – driven manner that accelerates their penetration through removal of barriers. The Project will demonstrate effectiveness of five low cost technology packages in 30 model units in 5 geographical clusters covering more than 13 States. This is expected to improve confidence level of industry, banks and financial institutions to enhance speedy replication in industry. A number of activities will be taken up for capacity building, development of business and commercial networks (business support system) to encourage cooperative procurement of technologies and services, information dissemination and experience sharing.
A self-sustained technology information resources and facilitation center (TIRFAC) would be set up to provide various technical assistance (TA) services to the SMEs in the post project period. Introduction of innovative-financing mechanisms like Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and third party financing would be introduced for the first time in the industry that has a high risk-perception.
It is one of the first energy efficiency projects for the SME sector that has been developed in consultation with key stakeholders that include industry, banks and financial institutions, technology providers and domestic equipment manufactures consultants, institutions, government agencies and departments.
(Release ID :3391)