Interview

Imperial Tobacco Limited / UK

Chris Stuart-Bennett Group Energy Manager

Prior to the ener.CON Europe 2014, we spoke to Chris Stuart-Bennett, Group Energy Manager, Imperial Tobacco Limited / UK
we.CONECT: In your opinion- what are the main current challenges and trends regarding management and optimization of energy efficiency for asset intensive industries and what are the specific challenges related to your company? Chris Stuart-Bennett: Competition for funding is a big challenge. In many industries, energy represents a significant share of the operating cost. However, within the tobacco industry energy represents perhaps 3% of the total cost of production (without even taking employee salaries into consideration). As a result, there are always more financially appealing projects to invest in or measures to support and it requires constant reemphasis on the social, reputational and long-term sustainability benefits associated with energy efficiency in order to get the projects approved. we.CONECT: Which challenges do you foresee to occur in 2014/2015 in relation to energy efficiency regulations/standards and requirements (i.e. requirements that derive from the EED)? Chris Stuart-Bennett : The recent vacillations within the EU and the fundamentally toothless nature of the recent renewables agreement have undermined a lot of our political arguments for investment in energy efficiency. There is a feeling amongst some areas of senior management that the urgency has begun to reduce, whereas if anything, it is even more crucial that we continue to invest in these measures. we.CONECT: Which regulations and certifications did influence your work mainly in the past 12 months and which will be important in the future? Chris Stuart-Bennett : ISO50001 has been an area of considerable attention recently, with three of our major manufacturing sites now certified, and the majority of the remainder working towards certification. This is even more relevant in countries such as Germany where there is now an actual financial benefit associated with ISO50001 certification, in the form of tax rebates for the company. we.CONECT: How do you measure and analyze the cost-benefit ratio of energy efficiency management? Chris Stuart-Bennett: We use several different ways of assessing the value of the proposals. We look at the Net Present Value of the proposals put forwards for each site, we consider the straight payback time (allowing for 10% year-on-year energy price inflation) and we consider the Profit and Loss impact of each of the proposals. we.CONECT: According to your presentation ESCO-funded Energy Savings Projects and Energy-Saving Partnerships in Industrial Parks / Energy Project Financing, could you briefly introduce us to the project and what is important about this topic? Chris Stuart-Bennett: Project Thor, as we have named it, is a programme of energy efficiency measures at our largest sites based on an Energy Services Contract (ESCO) model provided by ScanEnergi Solutions, from Denmark. Each site follows the same multi-phase model. There is an initial 2 week site audit which results in an audit report detailing findings, proposals and outline costs. Once investment approval has been obtained on the basis of this outline report then Phase 1 begins, which is the 4 month Verification and Planning phase, during which more in-depth data analysis takes place, IPMVP compliant baselines are established and the detailed technical specification and implementation planning is worked out. Phase 2 is then the installation phase, and usually takes about 8 months to complete. During this time, as various of the sub-projects come on-line, we tend to see the first savings appear. Finally, once Phase 2 is complete we move on to Phase 3 the Measurement Phase. Over the next 36 months ScanEnergi monitor the performance of the site, provide guidance on employee engagement work and behavior change, and support further energy management initiatives. we.CONECT: How different will the energy efficiency management for asset intensive industries of the year 2020 be from todays one? Chris Stuart-Bennett: The fundamentals really wont differ significantly aim to use as little energy as possible whilst achieving the same levels of production and quality, thus attaining overall cost-savings. However, as we address the quick-win projects and pluck the low-hanging fruit during the next half a decade or so, the technological retrofit measures will become more expensive to implement. As a result it is imperative that businesses focus on ensuring that the highest level of energy efficiency is built into any new equipment, systems and processes at the design level. we.CONECT: Which challenge/topic would you like to discuss with your peers/the other delegates at the ener.CON Europe 2014? Chris Stuart-Bennett: We are now moving onwards to on-site renewables and I would be interested in learning of

any experiences that my peers might have had regarding that. we.CONECT: Thanks a lot for this interview! Interview Partner: Peter Haack and Chris Stuart-Bennett.
Chris Stuart-Bennett is Group Energy Manager at Imperial Tobacco Limited and currently managing a global 8 year 25m ESCO implementation program. Prior to this, he worked as IEMA certified project manager (APM Certified) in several positions within Imperial Tobacco, being involved in Global IS projects and Environmental/H&S projects. In addition, Chris has several years of hands-on technical IS experience. ener.con Europe is the leading event for improving energy efficiency for asset intensive industries in Europe. Information about the event and about we.CONECT can be found at: http://enercon2014.we-conect.com/en/ Contact: Stefanie Nawrocki Program Manager I Corporate, IT & Manufacturing Division Phone: +49 (0)30 52 10 70 3 47 Fax: +49 (0)30 52 10 70 3 30 Email: Stefanie.Nawrocki@we-conect.com

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