ECCJ held the FY2024 inception meeting of the energy conservation support project for ASEAN countries
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Under the entrustment of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in its “decarbonization and energy transformation project for newly emerging nations, etc. (EE&C capacity building program)”, the Energy Conservation Center, Japan (ECCJ) held the Inception Meeting of the current fiscal year’s AJEEP (ASEAN-JAPAN Energy Efficiency Partnership) project in a hybrid in-person/online format over the two-day period from August 6 to 7, 2024 in Makati, the Philippines. At the meeting, the implementation plans for the current fiscal year was confirmed, the third year of the following two schemes launched under the four-year plan.
(1) Establishment of qualification systems relating to ASEAN common energy management and its application (Scheme 4)
(2) Promoting the dissemination of energy usage technologies toward carbon neutrality (Scheme 5)
Participants of the inception meeting
At the meeting, there was in-person participation from Thailand as the representative country of the Energy Efficiency & Conservation – Sub-Sector Network (EE&C-SSN) and six other countries together with the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) as the coordinator, while two other countries participated online.
The main details of the confirmation are as follows.
(1) In their opening remarks, the host country, the Department of Energy of the Philippines, the EE&C-SSN coordinator, the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency of the Ministry of Energy of Thailand, and ACE expressed their expectations that the entire ASEAN region will transition to a sustainable, stable, and self-sustaining energy future through AJEEP’s activities. The ECCJ expressed the importance of the Scheme 4 and 5 projects for CN and its expectations for this year’s activities toward the completion of the projects in 2025.
(2) For Scheme 4,
It was agreed that (i) the final drafts of the Common Standard Module necessary for certification as an ASEAN Common Standard Energy Manager (SAEMAS), (ii) the draft MRA Guidelines for certified managers to be able to work throughout ASEAN, and (iii) the Advanced Module for the certification of advanced energy management experts for CN would be completed through a training program in Japan and online workshops. Additionally, it was accepted visits to four countries (the Philippines, Brunei, Lao PDR, and Cambodia), following last year’s visits to five countries, to discuss the conditions to enable MRA, promoting national energy manager certification systems and mutual recognition between national systems and SAEMAS.
(3) For Scheme 5,
Meetings will be held to launch CN projects at the chemical product factory in Malaysia and the public hospital in Thailand, where CN diagnoses were implemented last year, and it was agreed that CN diagnoses will be expanded to four locations this year (two industrial sites and two buildings).
It was also agreed that these activities would be effectively implemented by combining face-to-face expert dispatch and training programs with the online seminars and workshops, and an annual schedule was also decided.
*SAEMAS: Sustainable ASEAN Energy Management Certification Scheme
*MRA: Mutual Recognition Arrangement