October 2019 Update

Newsletter archive

This newsletter has been retained as a dated collection of updates, with links to current Northmore Gordon guidance.

Publication date: October 11, 2019.

Status note: Deadlines, prices, program settings and event information below belong to the issue date. Use current official sources for present decisions.

What this article reported

Northmore Gordon News Update

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Helping large business reduce energy costs

From the MD

In this newsletter, we invite our NSW clients to a seminar on energy management for industry and cover a range of state and federal government grants that are available THIS MONTH.

Our portfolio of certificate projects continues to grow and our Group has now delivered over $70m in value back to clients doing energy efficiency upgrades through unlocking environmental certificates.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to us to help you reduce energy costs.

Craig Morgan

Northmore Gordon Energy Management Seminar - 17 October

We are pleased to inform you that we will be hosting a breakfast seminar on 17 October, from 7:15 am-9:30 am at Novotel in Newcastle, NSW. This seminar will be an informative and productive discussion:

Energy and Resources)

To register your participation Dial 1300 854 561 or send an email to k.cinco@northmoregordon.com

Did you know that doing lighting, HVAC, or whole building upgrades anywhere in Australia can earn you Australian Carbon Credit Units if you reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a result? NG has the ability to unlock funding using ACCUs for these projects.

Northmore Gordon now has the ability to unlock funding from the Emission Reduction Fund for Industrial Equipment Upgrades anywhere in Australia. We have successfully registered a project with the Clean Energy Regulator that allows us to create Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) from many industrial equipment upgrades, so long as greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. This applies to compressors, blowers, heating systems, boilers, fans, pumps, crushers, grinders, shredding, pulping, mixing, vacuum, refrigeration, and select other systems. For some projects this can be a material source of funds. Call NG to find out how we can help you.

The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) has developed a tool for benchmarking your Energy Management System. The program delivers free energy management system (EnMS) benchmarking in four energy-intensive manufacturing sub-sectors with the potential to expand to other sectors at a later date:

These systems are like a 'health check' on how you manage energy. Don't expect a quantitative assessment of your energy performance, but do expect to engage in great conversations with your peers on how energy is managed across your company.

The Victorian government recognises the important role of Bioenergy in helping industrial customers get off natural gas, and meet greenhouse gas reduction goals. We are active supporters of bioenergy as another tool to fight high energy costs, maximise the use of waste resources, and play its part in the renewable energy mix. In fact, we are currently managing the installation of a large biomass boiler for an industrial company, and are creating both carbon and energy savings certificates for two other bioenergy projects. Further, we are creating Australian Carbon Credit Units from two biogas projects.

Key details:

available:

Northmore Gordon helped applicants at the time.

Larger Grant

Smaller Grant

Northmore Gordon helped applicants at the time.

I have now met most, if not all of our new clients that have been on-boarded as part of our purchase of the measurement and verification project portfolio of National Carbon Bank of Australia. Feel free to reach out to your Account Manager or myself if you need more detail on your project. We are working on a project update system that will keep you informed on the progress of your project on a monthly basis. We realise that M&V projects can take 1-3 years to come to fruition, and keeping on top of the timeline can be difficult.

Our clients are finding value in the Measurement and Verification process to:

momentum around a series of upgrades.

Optimising plant operations through better controls is much cheaper than buying new equipment. To do this, several barriers need to be overcome:

operating points for plant and equipment

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How to use this information now

Treat each item as a historical snapshot. Confirm the current reporting period, program status, market date and official guidance before applying it to a project or compliance decision.

Separate source-reported facts from forecasts, targets and commentary. For a current project, retain the official source, version, effective date, assumptions and decision record in the evidence file.

What is the October 2019 Update newsletter and when was it published?

The October 2019 Update is a newsletter published by Northmore Gordon on October 11, 2019, filed under the Newsletters category and tagged with Energy Management, NSW, and Seminar. The newsletter was credited to Northmore Gordon and suggests related content including the article 'Energy Audits Are A Critical Step To Cost Savings & Energy Management' alongside other newsletters titled 'July Update' and 'October Update'. This publication reflects our ongoing communication about energy management topics relevant to its Australian operations.

What is Craig Morgan's professional background and expertise?

Craig Morgan is a mechanical engineer with 30 years' experience. His background includes more than fifteen years assisting organisations manage energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change impacts. Specifically, Craig spent seven years focused on energy management and greenhouse gas inventory development and mitigation, and six years on renewable energy generation systems. This combination of technical engineering experience and specialised sustainability knowledge positions him to address both operational efficiency and carbon management challenges that organisations face.

Why are energy audits described as a critical step to cost savings and energy management?

Energy audits investigate how a site uses energy and identify improvement opportunities. In practice, an audit is most useful when its scope matches a real decision: finding avoidable waste, ranking investments, or examining a particular system before replacement. The three audit types—Type 1 overview, Type 2 detailed assessment with financial evaluation, and Type 3 precision assessment of a major subsystem—allow organisations to match investigation depth to their actual needs. This structured approach helps transform unclear energy bills into actionable, prioritised opportunities with assigned owners and defined next steps.

How should organisations prepare evidence before commissioning an energy audit?

Effective audit preparation begins with at least one year of available electricity and fuel history, supplemented by interval data, production volumes, operating schedules, and equipment information. Organisations should flag missing data, major shutdowns, and changes in output, recognising that a year including unusual operations may not represent typical conditions. Government guidance emphasises understanding energy-use patterns and the relationship between consumption and business activity. For each proposed measure identified in the audit, assessor should clarify its boundary, estimated energy effect, assumptions, implementation dependencies, evidence quality, and next decision—keeping energy savings, tariff savings, maintenance benefits, and certificate revenue separate.

What is the relationship between energy audits and investment decision-making?

An energy audit's opportunity register supports prioritisation by documenting each proposed measure's boundary, estimated energy effect, assumptions, and implementation dependencies. However, an audit identifies and assesses opportunities; procurement, feasibility, implementation, and verification are separate decisions requiring clear scopes. A useful investment case allows management to understand the decision, compare alternatives, and see what could change the outcome. The audit output—when clear about status and assumptions—provides the evidence foundation that feasibility studies, business cases, and investment approvals require, but an audit does not by itself promise construction-ready design or fixed-price equipment quotations.

What role does measurement and verification play after energy improvements are implemented?

Measurement and verification (M&V) determines the effect of an energy improvement using an agreed boundary, data, and analysis. The central question is what energy use would have been without the intervention under comparable conditions, with savings calculated as the difference between that counterfactual and actual post-project consumption. M&V is necessary because electricity bills can fall due to production decline, shortened operating hours, weather changes, or price changes—separate concerns that must be distinguished from equipment improvements. We advertise M&V services including project-boundary selection, baseline modelling, savings calculation, and reporting to establish credible evidence of delivered outcomes.

How do energy management systems help organisations move from assessment to ongoing improvement?

An energy management system is a structured approach incorporating leadership, policy, objectives, responsibilities, and improvement mechanisms. According to our service descriptions, the system can manage energy consumption and identify efficiency opportunities across an organisation's operations, with consistent approaches to data systems, responsibilities, and performance indicators. This is particularly valuable for organisations managing multiple sites, where a common reporting structure preserves site-specific conditions while enabling portfolio-level performance tracking. Our six-stage delivery approach includes the 'Perform' stage, which addresses reporting, energy management, performance reviews, and multi-site expansion—moving organisations beyond one-off improvements toward sustained operational change.

What funding and certificate pathways should organisations consider when developing an energy project?

Energy efficiency projects in NSW may be eligible for the NSW Energy Savings Scheme, which creates Energy Savings Certificates from eligible energy-saving activities. Victoria offers the Victorian Energy Upgrades scheme with its own rules and specifications for project-based activities. Renewable energy projects may qualify for renewable energy certificates under relevant schemes. However, scheme eligibility depends on the specific activity, location, timing, and method—not simply the existence of a funding programme. Organisations should treat funding assessment as a separate workstream and use different scenarios for unconfirmed funding. Our funding-pathway assessment service helps identify relevant mechanisms, but certificate quantity, eligibility, verification cost, and sale price are separate variables requiring independent evaluation.

What should organisations include in an initial enquiry to Northmore Gordon about energy projects?

An effective initial enquiry should identify the organisation and site, the country and Australian state where relevant, the enquirer's role, the decision required, and any firm deadline. Include a short description of existing equipment or the reporting problem and clarify whether work is proposed, contracted, installed, commissioned, or already operating. Attach available energy history or a short equipment summary rather than waiting for a perfect dataset, clearly distinguishing estimates from measured information. For projects involving certificates, disclose previous incentives and who owns relevant energy-saving or renewable-electricity attributes. Alternatively, prepare a structured project brief describing the site's actual problem, available evidence, and desired decision, which establishes an appropriate starting scope for assessment.

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