January Energy Grid Roundup: Everything You Need to Know

Top 12 Grid Optimization Articles of 2014 – Grid improvements and distributed grid are what utilities focus on.

10 energy numbers to remember from 2014 – Renewables, iPhone 6,  pollution, World Cup and efficiency.

Transmission & Distribution World’s 15 Most Notable Articles of 2014 – Distributed energy sources & renewables are this year’s key words.

Nuclear energy sector saw some steady progress in 2014 – India &  Russia are top clients for new nuclear plants

Blast from the past: 2014! – The 12 blog posts that you cannot miss about utilities and asset management

12 Utility Trends For 2015

What was the biggest power breakthrough in the last 100 years? AC-DC & energy storage have changed the grid.

Extreme Weather

Weather Forecasts North America 2015 – Temperatures above normal…which means more snow than usual! Turn your mutual aid agreement on with Veracity http://ow.ly/EucON

A snow storm for lunch! Maximize your mutual aid efforts with Veracity. Emergency response plans are essential to cope with future disasters. http://ow.ly/i/7PPS3

How is the weather like in your area? Are you a utility? Capitalize on mutual aid with Veracity Connect

PJM Seeks To Delay Idling Of 2,500 MW As Hedge Against Winter Shortages – Utilities get ready for the worst of winter.

Managing Restoration of Critical Utility Infrastructure – Our mutual aid and critical spares management platform helps you find critical equipment when the worst occurs: http://ow.ly/GyJB9

Storm Hardening the Grid – Are you ready? We can help you with mutual aid agreements http://ow.ly/E8juF

Cloud-Based Approaches to Disaster Recovery – VeracityConnect helps utilities boost mutual aid:  http://ow.ly/GS8Pe

Beyond NERC: best practices for worst-case scenarios – “Plan for recovery as well as prevention.” This is why we offer utilities Veracity Connect, a platform to source critical spares like transformers in North America http://ow.ly/Ccjlh

U.S. Power Reliability: Are We Kidding Ourselves? – “The average U.S. customer loses power for 214 minutes per year. That compares to 70 in the United Kingdom, 53 in France, 29 in the Netherlands, 6 in Japan, and 2 minutes per year in Singapore.” – IEEE Spectrum

Nuclear

England’s Hinkley Point C nuclear plant to break ground in 2015 – Two Chinese corporations have shares in the project.

Kudankulam nuclear units to be up and running by 2021 – India’s new plant will have a capacity of 1,000 MW.

Areva clinches control systems deal for China nuclear reactors – The French company will provide instrumentation and control systems for two new reactors. The six reactors will start operating in 2018.

Nuclear reactors halted following deadly chemical leak – 3 workers died at the Shingori-3 reactor site, operated by Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co.

Nuclear power key to UAE’s sustainability – A nuclear plant is the answer to limited power generation.

Nuclear plant leaked 2,000 gallons of oil into Lake Michigan for months – The leak is now fixed, not the damages.

Vermont Just Lost 70% of Its Power From This Nuclear Shutdown

Nine local companies place bid for $1 billion hydraulic systems of Akkuyu nuke plant  – Turkey’s first nuclear plant on the coastal province of Mersin.

Coal

U.S. Coal Losing Power Business Dominance but Not Going Away – In 2022, 230 GW will still be generated through coal.

National Grid Corporation of the Philippines to invest P2.22B in Mindanao coal plant’s transmission facility The plant will consists of four 135-MW units and will be operational by 2017-2018.

Electric Cooperatives

NRECA Welcomes New Grid Protections for G&Ts – “NERC’s new Physical Security Grid Reliability Standards provide a framework for co-ops and other utilities to assess physical system risks, identify critical facilities, evaluate physical threats and vulnerabilities and develop an approach to address risks to the nation’s most critical substations and associated control centers,” said NRECA CEO Jo Ann Emerson.

Old FedEx Truck Now Helps Coop Restore Power – The truck now delivers parts to crews in the field.

Connect with other co-ops, OEMs & leading transformer brokers to leverage a pool of critical spares

Regulations

EPA releases coal ash rule – The Environmental Protection Agency will consider coal ash as household waste.

Utility Spending on Energy Efficiency Soars as Supportive State Policies Are Expanded

Utility regulators authorize Xcel generating projects – The company will be able to build more than $500 million in new generating units.

EPA’s rule rigged against nuclear – Climate change requires quick action from regulators and utilities.

The biggest threat to demand response? It may not be the Order 745 ruling.

EPA defines classification of fly ash from coal fired power plants – Can environment and coal coexist?

Decommissioning

Decommissioning Projects – Why it takes so long & costs so much

Westinghouse, Bechtel Announce Alliance for U.S. Decontamination, Decommissioning of nuclear plants

Exelon: Company dismantling Zion nuclear plant is running out of money – Around 40% of the costs are “in shipping and disposing of low level radioactive waste”. $800 million may not be enough for decommissioning.

Fitch Ratings Warns on Early Nuclear Retirements – Is reducing the nuclear percentage in energy sources a bad thing?

Global nuclear decommissioning cost seen underestimated, may spiral – Several companies admit that their decommissioning funds are not sufficient.

 

Renewables

Utilities Should Avoid Over-Investing When Integrating Renewable Energy into their Grid – Renewables require a solid investment plan.

Report: Distributed-Renewables Disruption Will Reduce Utility Revenues By Up To $123 Billion A Year By 2025 – Could utilities change the game?

A huge floating solar farm will be built on a reservoir in Japan – Would solar be the new offshore renewable source of energy?

EDF confirms 400 MW Brazil hydro acquisition – EDF has secured 51% stake of the Sinop hydroelectric project.

2015 OUTLOOK: Brazil gets serious about solar – Climate changes push the grid to its limits, with a need for renewables more than ever.

India Committed to World’s Largest Solar Park – NTPC Limited’s plant has a capacity of 750 MW.

Utility of the future – solar, storage, EVs and micro-grids – Consumers become prosumers and have more influential power than you think.

Grid Improvement

BC Hydro Delivers Power and Progress – The company led the Northwest Transmission 213-mile line project carried out in only 2 years, creating 5,500 direct jobs.

Transmission Line Connects Minnesota and Wisconsin – Building the transmission line involves construction on an island. Construction crews commute by barges and boats.

ITC Great Plains Energizes V-Plan Transmission Line, Substations in Kansas

Kenya Power to invest US$95.9m in 36 new substations around the country – The goal is to improve the grid’s reliability. A total of 5,000 MW of power will be added to the grid by 2017.

How utilities can plan for the future of transmission and distributed generation –  Flexibility and cost-justifiability are the new transmission & distribution keywords.

Greater demands on outage management systems mean more investment coming

FirstEnergy completes $6 million transmission project – The project aims at meeting the demand growth driven by the shale gas industry across its Ohio Edison service area.

$356 bn needed for Arab power projects: study – The projects focus on capacity expansion & distribution network.

NY offers $14.5 million for power plant upgrades – The money comes from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative “a carbon cap-and-trade program that charges fossil fuel-burning power plants for the carbon dioxide they emit.”

Eaton wins contract from Green Mountain Power to upgrade automate electrical system in Vermont

Grid Equipment

Equipment Criticality: What makes your industrial equipment essential to your company

NYPA approves budget that includes $24.5M for transformer and circuit breaker replacement in Massena – Six 765-kV transformers will be installed, each weighing 200 tons.

Transformers: An Essential Link of the Electrical Grid

Smart Grid

Great Progress on Smart Grid and Smart City Predictions for 2020

How to make your smart grid even smarter – Storage, microgrids and software are utilities’ new key tools.

Smart Cities Charlotte May 12 – 13, 2015 – Smart Cities is an Energy Central event designed to educate utilities, solution providers and communities on the steps and paths to collaboratively develop Smart Cities in their region. #SmartCities2015

Company News

We launched our large surplus online catalogue featuring like-new assets from utilities

Veracity Connect: a platform to automate mutual aid – Veracity Connect allows members to work together to strengthen mutual aid and to be better prepared for infrastructure failure and extreme weather events.

Access reports from the U.S. utility industry – Electric Infrastructure, Asset Management and Grid Security

Recovering value from a plant decommissioning? Learn more about some of the projects we carried out.

Are you a Google+ user? Let us add you to our circle!

Here is a new way for utilities to source critical spares: Veracity Connect & LinkedIn. Curious about it? We will be glad to answer all your questions. Contact us at info@veracityamg.com or 1-866-694-1252.

Are you a utility company? Have instant access to mutual aid contact & resources via the online platform Veracity Connect

What we do for our Clients: Critical Spares Management & Investment Recovery

Are you a utility? Have instant access to mutual aid contact & resources with Veracity Connect

Are you a utility company? Maximize the value of surplus equipment with Veracity’s investment recovery.

Join the Investment Recovery Canada LinkedIn group and find opportunities for your Canadian company.

Aging grid assets? Know when to replace them http://ow.ly/GAQvw Get help from Veracity Connect.

Are you paying to get rid of idle assets? Turn them into money back with our Investment Recovery Team.

Get a better idea of our investment recovery & critical spares management services: http://www.veracityamg.com

Through Veracity Connect, connect with other member co-ops, OEMs and leading transformer brokers to leverage a pool of available critical spares: http://ow.ly/BonlR #utilities #electriccooperatives #criticalspares http://ow.ly/i/7jlps

Source assets in no time & save on costs with Veracity Connect: http://ow.ly/Hj4dB #utilities #criticalspares http://ow.ly/i/7jkZw

#Transformers, Mutual Aid & Asset Disposition are components of Veracity Connect: http://ow.ly/Hj95a http://ow.ly/i/7Invt #utilities

Subscribe to our newsletter: Critical Spares Mgmt & Investment Recovery for #Utilities http://eepurl.com/LVtY1 http://ow.ly/i/73Jj2

Finding critical spares was a manual, drawn out & frustrating experience. Not anymore with Veracity Connect! http://ow.ly/Hj6GF

Binder, spreadsheet… as a #utility company, you deserve better to source critical spares: Try Veracity Connect: http://ow.ly/Hj7g6

Are you a #Utility company? Leverage a pool of Critical Spares through the Power of Collaboration – Veracity Connect http://ow.ly/HWz0I

Company Blog

Supply Chain & ISO 14000: Connecting Sustainability and Investment Recovery

Debunking 5 myths of Purchasing Reconditioned Electrical Assets – Infographic

7 ways to dispose of your surplus assets!

Collaborative economy & idle asset – Your surplus equipment can serve your sustainability

Webinars for Utilities: A la carte! We help utilities with mutual aid & asset mgmt services: www.veracityamg.com

Critical Spares Infographic – Do you have critical spares you need to turn into money back to the bottom line? http://ow.ly/i/5VuQV

ISO 55000: Meet Your (New) Friend SAM

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Learn more about our Mutual Aid & Critical Spares Management Solution for Utilities: Make electrical equipment procurement easy and efficient. Locate a matching power transformer before a failure occurs!

Stay updated through our social media platforms and our website:

Subscribe to our Veracity’s monthly newsletter: Critical Spares Management & Investment Recovery for Utilities

Decommissioning Projects: Why It Costs So Much

If you like being up to date in terms of news in the energy sector, or if you live close to a power plant, you must have heard the word “decommissioning” more than once.

Definition

Decommissioning is the administrative and technical process to remove something from an active status (Wikipedia). Applied to industrial facilities, it means disabling and dismantling any active industrial units until no hazardous material or danger remain.

Decommissioning commonly concerns power plants, especially nuclear, pipelines, offshore rigs, tanker ships, military aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. Nuclear decommissioning is the “process whereby a nuclear power plant site is dismantled to the point that it no longer requires measures for radiation protection” (Wikipedia). A more detailed definition can be found on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission website.

Regulation compliance

Decommissioning projects are submitted to strict regulations and standards, such as:

• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ; Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
• U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (offshore oil and gas facilities) ; Ocean Conservation Measures
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Fisheries and Oceans Canada
• U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Pipeline Safety; Canada Energy Pipeline Association

Decommission Steps

These steps are based on a typical offshore rig decommission, but the general process can be applied to power plants, ships and submarines.

1. Project management: review of contractual obligations, engineering analysis, operational planning, contracting.
2. Engineering and planning.
3. Permitting and regulatory compliance: consulting firms can assist in obtaining required licenses and permits.
4. Facilities preparation: flushing and cleaning tanks and pipes, getting metal units ready to be lifted.
5. Disabling industrial units.
6. Equipment removal.
7. Materials disposal and site clearance: these two final steps require pre-decommissioning and post decommissioning surveys, identification of debris which could interfere with dismantling operations, and test trawling to ensure that the area is free of debris and ready.
8. Site release.

Nuclear Plant Decommissioning

For nuclear plants, three methods are available:

• Reactor dismantling and decontamination, allowing the land to be used again;
• Safe storage: the plant is monitored and taken down once radiation has decayed;
• Entombment: a coffin or dome made of concrete and steel is set on the radioactive components. The Tchernobyl nuclear plant is a typical example of entombment. The land can be used once radiation has decayed, which can take decades depending on the level of radiation.

Time frame

Projects require several years, from assessing the need to decommission a power plant to dismantling the last industrial unit. For nuclear plants, it can take up to 60 years in case of safe storage or unlimited time if the site cannot be decontaminated.

Why decommissioning?

The main reason is financial. It is sometimes not worth economically to upgrade power plants, offshore oil platforms, tankers and nuclear submarines. Alternative technologies exist and may prevail over updating current facilities.

Safety will also lead companies and governments to close facilities. For nuclear plants, government commissions assign operation licenses for an average period of 40 years. Nevertheless it is common to extend the plant’s life to 60 years or more. Safety is a key reason, but is sometimes put aside for economic reasons.

What happens to removed equipment?

• Working units are redeployed or sold as is, where is.
• Metals are scrapped and recycled.
• Hazardous substances are sent to specialized processing facilities to be reclaimed or decontaminated.

To learn more about disposition options, read our blog post about the 7 Ways To Dispose of Your Surplus Assets.

 How much does it cost?

Even though the operating company is required to set aside funds throughout the plant’s or industrial facilities’ operating lifetime, it is common to see costs increase step after step. The decommissioning cost sometimes exceeds the cost of the plant when it was purchased. The spent fuel –nuclear waste – is sent to specialized waste disposal facilities and buried underground. No methodology has been found to process such hazardous waste yet.

Veracity can assist your utility or industrial company retrieve value from idle or decommissioned equipment. We can help you implement a tailored investment recovery program which will free up money for your bottom line. According to the Investment Recovery Association, $1 put in the investment recovery brings at least $20 dollars back to the bottom line. This is no magic, but a combination of a dedicated and skilled team and an effective network.

We assist you in:

• Setting/improving Policies and Procedures to manage the end of life cycle of corporate assets. This starts with a well-defined policy, asset release form and follows key procedures to maximize the asset disposition process with full audit trail that provides risk mitigation to avoid environmental liabilities.
• Sending feet on the ground inventory teams that can efficiently capture asset data and catalog the assets to provide internal corporate wide visibility of available surplus.
• Sending the surplus back to the market through our network with the purpose of maximizing the value you recover.
• Developing scrap management protocols to maximize return on scrap as well as reduce corporate exposure to environmental liabilities.

Contact us at 866-694-1252 or info@veracityamg.com. We are located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, with solutions available for the North American market. Visit our website at http://www.veracityamg.com

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Go further

Current Decommissioning Projects:

Exelon: Company dismantling Zion nuclear plant is running out of money

Entergy: $1.24B Is Needed to Decommission Vermont Yankee Nuclear

Letters: Good luck to Leshinskie on decommissioning of Vermont Yankee

San Onofre nuclear power plant dismantling will cost $4.4 billion, take 20 years

Chance for one last tour of Spondon’s Celanese factory before it is bulldozed

For offshore oil and gas decommissioning UK projects, you can check the Decommissioning Projects Index

Decommissioning a Nuclear Plant Can Cost $1 Billion and Take Decades

How Fukushima nuclear plant will be dismantled

Oil & Gas UK Decommissioning Insight 2013

Closing and Decommissioning Nuclear Power Reactors (2012)

 

Sources

Nuclear Decommissioning by Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_decommissioning

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – http://www.epa.gov/

Students’ Corner – Decommissioning, by theU.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission – http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/decommissioning.html

How Does Decommissioning Work? by Rigzone – http://www.rigzone.com/training/insight.asp?i_id=354

Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants, by the Nuclear Energy Institute – http://www.nei.org/master-document-folder/backgrounders/fact-sheets/decommissioning-nuclear-energy-facilities

Staff Responses Frequently Asked Questions Concerning Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Reactors – http://www.eu-decom.be/faqs/faqs2.htm#_1_27

 

Learn more about our Critical Spares Management Solution for Utilities: Make electrical equipment procurement easy and efficient. Locate a matching power transformer before a failure occurs!

Stay updated through our social media platforms and our website:

Your Veracity Connect Newsletter – Volume 6

The Transformer Problem

The consequences of a transformer outage can be potentially catastrophic. From a 20-minute interruption to a several day outage, the failure of a single transformer can leave thousands of customers in the dark and in some cases can result in significant revenue losses.

According to a recent Willis North America Article (March 2008), The Transformer Problem, “transformers have for decades been ranked in the top five (5) by equipment insurers in terms of claims”. To magnify the importance of this issue, a June 2012 study, Large Power Transformers (LPTs) and the US Electric Grid by the U.S. Department of Energy indicated that “the average age of LPTs installed in the United States is approximately 40 years, with 70 percent of LPTs being 25 years or older and some as old as 70 years that are still operating in the grid”. The same source also noted that the useful life of these transformers, as estimated by manufacturers is typically 35 to 40 years.”

Replacing this aging infrastructure is one of the key challenges faced by today’s Utilities. Compounding the challenge is the fact that the “average price of copper more than quadrupled between 2004 and 2011, costing more than $4.27 a pound by 2011” causing the cost of transformers to skyrocket. Willis North America has indicated that “a large transformer that cost $500,000 in 1960 (there are many of this size and vintage still in use), now has a replacement cost of about $4,000,000”. Long lead times also create challenges, with the lead time for a new unit approaching an average of 18-24 months.

In response to these challenges, Veracity Asset Management Group developed Veracity Connect, a proactive critical spares management system. Veracity Connect links utilities, Cooperatives, OEM’s and leading transformer brokers to establish a pool of available critical spares.  Veracity Connect allows utilities the ability to quickly locate matching spare transformers and capital equipment across North America all in one location.

Learn more at www.veracityamg.com. Contact us today at 866-694-1252 or info@veracityamg.com to become a Veracity Connect Member.

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Veracity Connect: Your Critical Spares Management Solution

• Instant access to critical spares such as transformers
• Power of collaboration: reach utilities, OEMs, brokers and industry partners across North America
• Proactive approach: understand where matching spares are before you need them
• Take advantage of pooling/sharing strategies for economies of scale

Contact us now to become a Veracity Connect Member!

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A glimpse of the assets we manage for our clients:

• Substation transformers
• Pad mount transformers
• Pole mount transformers
• Switchgear
• Surplus line trucks
• Steam turbines
• Transmission towers
• LED street lights, such as:

Brand new VIVIX LRL3 and LRL4, 120-277 VAC, 50/60 Hz, full 10-year warranty

Contact us now at 866-694-1252 or info@veracityamg.com

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The 7 R’s of Investment Recovery

 In our continuing segments on the 7 R’s on Investment Recovery we concentrated on number 4: RESELL. We focused on the importance of placing used and unwanted assets back into the market by reaching out to end users or third party dealers and asset management companies.

We are continuing this month with our focus on 5 and 6: RECLAIM and RECYCLE.

Reclamation is a synonym of recycling. It is the process of recovering substances and materials in a pure or usable form from equipment, such as oil in transformers, lithium from batteries or mercury from LCD screens. The difference with recycling is that the substances are recovered but not reprocessed.

Recycling, internally or via recycling facilities, usually involves a specific process where a type of material, such as ferrous and non-ferrous metals, glass or plastic is fused and turned into new, raw materials.

Recycling is strongly recommended. It is essential to reduce the amount of waste ending up in landfills, especially hazardous substances like PCBs. Income can be generated by recycling and reduces the need for virgin materials.

Recycled materials can directly be reused by your company or sent back to the raw material streams. The recycling facility should provide you with certifying documentation, useful to preserve your audit trail and your company reputation.

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Veracity will participate in the Canadian Digital Media Network’s Soft-Landing Fall 2014 Program to help forge the partnerships and connections to take on the U.S. market.

“The Soft-Landing Program has already resulted in millions of dollars in new business and investment for our participating companies and generated more than a 30x return on CDMN’s investment of funds and resources,” said Kevin Tuer, CDMN’s Managing Director.

For more information about the program, please visit www.cdmn.ca/soft-landing-program/overview/

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Catch up on our last company blog posts!

• Transformers: An Essential Link of the Electrical Grid
• Key points from “Economic Benefits of Increasing Electric Grid Resilience to Weather Outages”
• Investment Recovery: the Missing Link in the Supply Chain
• The Trade Show Season Is Open

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Stay updated through our social media platforms and our website:

Learn more about our Critical Spares Management Solution for Utilities: Make electrical equipment procurement easy and efficient. Locate a matching power transformer before a failure occurs!

June Digest – Time to Catch Up!

Summer is here, but it does not mean that the energy sector is on holidays!

Catch up on what happened with our June Digest.Veracity Asset Management Group introduced Veracity Connect to the Utilities Standards Forum Members. http://wp.me/p2EjZw-32

 The new standard ISO14001 is to be drafted this year and released in 2015. What will be the impact on companies, their supply chain and their sustainability practices? http://wp.me/p2EjZw-3b

Find out how the 7 ways to dispose of your surplus equipment can help your company maximize the value of these assets: http://wp.me/p2EjZw-3m.

Critical spares in the utility industry? Get a better idea with this infographic: http://wp.me/p2EjZw-3D

In your mail box: Veracity Connect June newsletter. Reconditioning as an investment recovery method, our clients’ feedback and corporate sustainability are on the menu. http://wp.me/p2EjZw-3H.

Subscribe for the next one!

The “Large Power Transformers and the U.S. Electric Grid” report was released last April. Here are the 9 key facts which explain why large power transformers are critical to the US energy sector. http://wp.me/p2EjZw-3S

Go further with our website: www.veracityamg.com

Join us on social media !

   

And contact us at info@veracityamg.com and 1-866-694-1252!

Supply Chain & ISO14001: Connecting Sustainability and Investment Recovery

This blog post highlights how supply chain, new ISO14001 and sustainability are linked.

The article “ISO14001 Revisions – An End To Box-Ticking Culture For Sustainable Procurement?” by Mark Plant, CEO of Ecodesk, highlights the new standard ISO14001, which is to be drafted this year and released in 2015. What will be the impact on companies and their sustainability practices?

For a short reminder, the ISO 14000 standard system focuses on environmental management. The International Organization for Standardization defines it as “practical tools for companies and organizations looking to identify and control their environmental impact and constantly improve their environmental performance.” The main goal is to help companies “effectively measure and reduce their environmental footprint”.

ISO standards are not compulsory at all, but it is an excellent sign of good practices and a requirement for most large tenders. Large companies are more likely to go through the ISO certification as they are expected to be leaders in these good practices, toward their customers, suppliers and societal partners.

What are the goals of ISO14001?

• Improves business performance through rational use of resources and processes
• Reduces raw material usage, waste generation and disposal costs
• Lowers energy consumption
• Fosters optimal use of recoverable resources

Although it sounds very theoretical, these standards have shaped numerous sustainability policies and practices.

Companies in the following sectors will be more likely to adopt ISO14001:

• Waste management
• Heavy machinery
• Petrochemical industry
• Agro- industry
• Pharmaceutical and medical sectors

Companies will have to improve their “sustainable procurement strategy”, as mentioned by Mark Plant, “a set of environmental procurement requirements will have to be set and communicated to the supply chain.”

Taking into account environmental aspects (carbon footprint, type of materials, hazardous waste management) becomes a key factor in implementing and maintaining your supply chain, i.e. acquiring goods or services at the best possible cost in terms of quantity, quality, location and time.

How do we link sustainability, supply chain and ISO14001?

We often only think of the supply chain as a one-way path. Nevertheless, ISO14001 reinforces the importance of thinking about the other hidden side of the value chain. What happens to a company’s surplus? Should it end up in a laydown yard or be sent to a landfill? 

Surplus asset management, also called “investment recovery” by practitioners, meets the goals of ISO14001, and should be practices complementary to your procurement program.

ISO14001	Managing your surplus assets
Improve business performance through rational use of resources and processes	Identify assets and recover the highest value of idle items
Reduce raw material usage, waste generation and disposal costs	Send materials to raw material streams through scrapping and recycling
Lower energy consumption	Buying second-hand assets saves on transportation and manufacturing new units
Foster optimal use of recoverable resources	Reusing and redeploying avoid manufacturing and buying new units

We can also add to this chart that the investment recovery process provides a full audit trail, required by any ISO standard, mitigates risks and reduce corporate exposure to environmental liabilities.

“Essentially ISO14001 is an opportunity to put in place value chain processes that can have a tangible benefit to the business but the hurdles to jump are higher and for any businesses not prepared to take supply chain sustainability seriously, the road to accreditation could also be a very long one” said Mark Plant. You can reach sustainability by also managing your surplus assets.

Go further with:

Investment Recovery: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_recovery

Sustainability, Investment Recovery and Supply Chain: https://veracityamg.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/article-highlight-sustainability-investment-recovery-and-supply-chain/

Rejuvenating equipment: an alternative to buying new: https://veracityamg.wordpress.com/2014/05/14/rejuvenating-equipment-an-alternative-to-buying-new/

ISO14001: http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/management-standards/iso14000.htm

http://www.iso.org/iso/ps-pub200002.pdf

The article “ISO14001 Revisions – An End To Box-Ticking Culture For Sustainable Procurement?” by Mark Plant: http://www.procurementleaders.com/blog/my-blog–guest-blog/iso14001-revisions—an-end-to-box-ticking-culture-for-sustainable-procurement

Send us your thoughts and questions through the comment box below, our social media platforms or info@veracityamg.com!

 

 

 

Investment Recovery at Toronto Hydro

Our Investment Recovery (IR) consulting practice focuses a considerable amount of time researching and discussing the impacts and benefits of Investment Recovery programs. The tangible economic benefits of IR are readily apparent, however the environmental aspects of IR is often overlooked.

A recent article, “Where do Toronto Hydro Transformers Go?“, highlights one of the ways in which IR plays a critical role in alleviating an organizations environmental impact.

 

Investment Recovery in the Telecom Industry

A recent press release from TradeWings, (see link below) highlights the value that the Investment Recovery Process can provide to industries beyond the Utilities and Oil & Gas Sectors.

Mark Portu, President and COO of TradeWings is quoted in the release, stating, “In the face of rapid technology turnover, de-installed assets become susceptible to a process in which they are typically written off without regard for the the financial benefits of reuse in telecom service and supply chains”.

By implementing processes and systems focused on Investment Recovery, Telenor Sweden will realize significant financial and environmental benefits.

http://www.tradewings.com/PressRelease_March14_2011

What is Investment Recovery?

What is Investment Recovery?

Investment Recovery, also called asset recovery or resource recovery, is the process of maximizing the value of unused or end of life assets through effective reuse or divestment. Investment Recovery, as a process, is becoming more and more relevant every day. There are a growing number of factors pushing the concept of Investment Recovery to the forefront, Pressure to Maximize Profitability, Corporate Responsibility and the Global Marketplace

Pressure to Maximize Profitability

Programs for Process Optimization, Operational Efficiency, Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, etc, etc, have squeezed nearly every ounce of cost savings from Business Processes, however,Investment Recovery has been one of the areas least recognized for reducing costs since the funds used for the acquisition of these products has already been expended, they are, in a sense, “free” to the organization.

Corporate Responsibility

Environmental awareness and corporate social responsibility are more important today than ever. Investment Recovery enables the “greening” of an organization by ensuring the effective, managed, sustainable disposal of end of life assets.

The Global Marketplace

Buying and selling over the internet is no longer limited to Ebay but is now a standard way of doing business for B2B and B2C transactions. Idle Assets and Surplus equipment can now be efficiently and effectively bought and sold from any corner of the globe