When one hears that one technology uses about 70% of a factory’s electricity consumption and that about half of those deployed are over 10 years old with a quarter over 20 years, one wonders why the market to replace them is sluggish at best. Yes, it is time for a shake-up. The technology under discussion is an electric motor and they are used everywhere. Electric motors are basically the muscle behind modern industry and business. If something moves, spins, pumps, lifts, or blows air—there’s almost always an electric motor involved.
Across the EU, electric motors use 56% of all final electricity consumption. The European Commission estimates a stock of 380 million motors in 2020. The European Commission finds that upgrading to newer generation, higher efficiency motors unlock approximately 25 TWh/year of additional savings, which represents about 1% of EU electricity demand.
Yes, there is a cost but a reasonable one. Payback periods are generally under two years for motor and variable speed drive (VSD) retrofits. Since energy can make up over 90 % of a motor’s lifetime cost, investing in high-efficiency motors and VSDs typically pays for itself through energy savings.
The EU does have a good policy framework to promote energy efficiency in industry. This goes from targets to information to research to promotion of energy audits to an emissions trading scheme. There are even good EU-funded projects such as EU-MORE, aims to capture the benefits which come from replacing old inefficient motors at a faster rate through proposing new policies and developing appropriate analytical tools. Yet, replacing electric motors seems to fall between the cracks. Energy audits undertaken, whether mandatory or voluntary, seldom focus on electric motors. This combines with a capacity issue for auditors and consultants. Yes, and the target audience is often small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have traditionally given little priority to improved energy efficiency even though the benefits are many.
Something should be done. There are too many cost-effective benefits to simply walk away from them. A small team is putting together a “tripartite” proposal, taking advantage of the EU’s tripartite agreements for affordable energy for EU’s Industry (see information note.) Already work has been launched on the first two sectoral tripartite agreements, covering offshore wind and grids, and storage. Now our team is putting together a proposal on the demand side for electric motors. This will bring together the European Commission, national governments and energy agencies, industrial users, suppliers of technologies and services, and the financial community. No doubt there will be more.
Actually, something must be done. We are in the midst of the climate and energy transition and we need to pull out all the stops. This proposal to promote the acceleration of the deployment of electric motors has many benefits. It will help the EU improve its resilience and competitiveness
In coming weeks you will hear more and we hope to get your support. Meanwhile, if you have any queries, please feel free to contact me at rod.janssen@gmail.com.
Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 