The IIP India launched a project to customize and adapt an Assessment to Action (A2A) tool for the Indian Fertilizer industry, focusing on ammonia production. A2A is a pre audit tool that takes a benchmarking approach to help companies gain a better understanding of their energy consumption with a view to reduce their energy use and enhance competitiveness

The inception meeting for this project was held from 14^th to 16^th December 2011, with active and wholehearted participation of all the project partners namely; Fertilizer Association of India, National Productivity Council, ICF Marbek, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation and IIP. A brainstorming session was organized with select industry members on 16^th December to incorporate the industry concerns/feedback in the project design.

Some salient features of the India initiative is presented below, which not only attempts to take the tool to its next level but also extending it further in coming out with a basket of bankable projects for the Indian Fertilizer industry which would then be of great value to the sector and to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Government of India, in meeting the energy efficiency targets that are to be announced shortly under the Perform Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme being implemented by BEE.

1. Modify the A2A tool so that final list of prioritized actions are based not only on energy saving potential (as is the case presently), but also on cost economics.

2. Edit/fine tune the technical libraries-both for ammonia production as well as the generic one to meet the requirements of the Indian fertilizer industry

3. Field test/validate the customized toolkit at two fertilizer plants in India.

4. Take accompanying measures (energy audits and feasibility studies) to extend the output of the A2A tool in developing a basket of bankable project for the Indian fertilizer industry.

The newly customized A2A tool was presented to the Fertilizer Association of India in New Delhi along with a two-day training program.

On 4^th September, 2012, IIP presented the Assessment to Action (A2A) toolkit to the Technical Advisory Committee of the Fertilizer Association of India (FAI) in New Delhi. The A2A tool is a pre-audit tool that takes a benchmarking approach to help companies gain a better understanding of their energy consumption with a view to reduce their energy use and enhance competitiveness. At the meeting, FAI Committee members expressed their confidence in the usefulness of the tool, not only for a high-level energy efficiency assessment, but also for its potential to help fertilizer industries prioritize energy conservation opportunities and for training engineers. In order to familiarize the tool and demonstrate its use, IIP also organized a two-day training program at FAI for the industry and other service providers.

The India initiative carries forward the learning from China, where IIP first developed and piloted this tool. As part of this initiative, the technical libraries of the tool were significantly improved and the tool was able to generate interest amongst the fertilizer units. Field testing of the customized toolkit was also carried out in two major fertilizer plants of India.  For more information on the project in India, please see A2A Toolkit

.