Denis Tanguay
is the executive director of Efficiency Valuation Organization. He spent the
last 30 years working on energy issues in government, private sector and in
associations.
The Efficiency Valuation Organization (EVO) is developing a Certified Energy Savings Verifier (CESV) training and certification program for individuals to be qualified to certify the savings of energy efficiency projects (EEPs). The CESV is intended to fill a significant gap in the global energy efficiency market’s inability to verify the energy savings generated from EEPs.
EVO is a U.S. non-profit entity that owns the globally-recognized International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP), which is a long-standing document containing generally accepted principles to be applied in measurement and verification (M&V) plans used to measure, verify and calculate the energy savings of EEPs. The IPMVP is a framework of definitions and guidelines on methodologies for assessing and measuring energy savings.
EVO provides M&V trainings in over 30 countries through national and international training partners that includes the testing of individuals to become a Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP). The CMVP program is introductory in nature versus the much higher level of competency needed of a CESV.
Savings cannot be measured – like kilowatt hours, cubic meters or litres. Savings are determined by analyzing measured energy use versus an energy baseline. This is the critical component of M&V. The baseline is affected by many factors that may occur during the performance period and require adjustment. M&V thus become the equivalent of a meter for energy efficiency (EE).
M&V is thus the process of using measurements to reliably determine savings created within a facility by an energy efficiency project (EEP). The primary objective of M&V is to reduce performance risk to an acceptable level and is required to calculate achieved energy savings with any degree of accuracy/reliability.
Verifying energy savings is a key barrier for investors and facility owners to have sufficient confidence in the estimated savings to be willing to fund and implement EEPs on scaled-up basis. A huge capacity gap exists globally of not being able to measure and verify energy efficiency savings at three major levels: policy; program and project.
The gap is caused by long-standing, generally accepted M&V practices not being consistently applied by trained professionals.It is primarily caused by a lack of experts who have the capability to develop or evaluate M&V plans or energy savings calculations. In short, we need M&V experts with experience and capability to estimate, measure and verify EEP savings.
The Certified Energy Savings Verifier (CESV) program will fill this gap by creating a new high-grade certification category of professionals who can be relied upon to independently evaluate and certify the estimated and actual energy savings of EEPs.
The CESV program is meant to train and certify M&V experts in the market who have in-depth knowledge of and experience to:
- Prepare / evaluate / implement M&V plans that follow IPMVP type of guidelines;
- Measure/calculate energy savings for various energy efliciency technologies;
- Perform ‘pre’ and ‘post’ installation evaluation of EE savings
CESVs must have the capability to evaluate and certify that an EEP’s pre-installed energy savings estimate is materially correct and that the pre-installed M&V plan complies with the generally accepted principles of IPMVP and other recognized M&V standards and best practices. They must also be able to certify that post-installed energy savings have been calculated according to the certified pre-installed M&V plan and that they materially reflect the actual savings achieved
CESV is a high-grade professional M&V certification to be provided by EVO and a local/regional certifying body to individual engineers who have the demonstrated education, experience and knowledge to pass the CESV examination and meet EVO’s rigorous M&V qualifications. Holders of the CESV designation will be recognized as individuals who are technically competent to provide an independent and professional evaluation and certification of EEP savings.
by Denis Tanguay
Denis Tanguay is the executive director of Efficiency Valuation Organization. He spent the last 30 years working on energy issues in government, private sector and in associations.
