Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) apply to motors entering the market but not to the much larger population of installed motors. Since motors have long lifetimes—sometimes as high as forty years—policies and initiatives are necessary to address the key barriers to the replacement of inefficient old motors:
1. Initiatives to inform, educate and build capacity
- Users are simply unaware of the savings potential of energy-efficient motors within their plants. Communication campaigns can inform such users.
- Users lack the tools that can estimate the savings reliably and create a business case for investment. Capacity building initiatives can equip such users. Measurement and Verification (M&V) training can ensure the reliability of the projected energy savings.
2. Initiatives to address user practices
- Users get motors repaired repeatedly, rather than replace them. Even when a motor reaches the end of its life, users replace it with an equally inefficient spare motor. Scrappage policies could incentivise accelerated replacement.
- Large industrial users could be mandated and/or incentivised to adopt motor management programs and conduct energy audits of motor systems.
3. Financial barriers
- Individual investments in energy-efficient motors involve small and complex transactions.
- When it comes to investible funds, energy savings projects have a lower priority compared to the core business of the motor user.
- Potential creditors are often unable to assess and securitise the returns from future energy savings reliably. Thus, the availability of finance for energy-efficiency investments becomes dependent upon the overall creditworthiness of the energy-user, which is particularly challenging for SME’s. Innovative financial delivery mechanisms including, but not limited to, incentives, grants, tax rebates, green credit lines, credit risk insurance, leasing, vendor financing, demand aggregation and bulk procurement, and energy performance contracting can address these barriers.