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IAEEL newsletter 2/93

Nutek's procurement



Since 1990, the price of fluorescent luminaires equipped with electronic ballasts on the Swedish market has fallen dramatically, and the number of units sold has roughly doubled each year. It seems likely that the innovative procurement process introduced by the Dept. of Energy Efficiency at Nutek, the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development, contributed to these rapid changes.

A procurement process usually involves one buyer and a few large contractors competing for a large-scale project. However, when dealing with diversified markets with many customers, it can be almost impossible to come up with a single specification that all parties find acceptable. This was the problem that Nutek faced when it introduced a procurement process aimed at stimulating the market to buy more and better electronic ballasts (and other end-user-oriented technologies-Nutek also has arranged contracts for energy-efficient windows, efficient refrigerators, energy-savers for computer screens, etc). It should be noted that Nutek is not the buyer; rather, it helps to organize a group of buyers.

For a start, Nutek signed agreements with participants who control almost 30% (35 million m^2) of the floor area of public and commercial buildings in Sweden. The main aim was to establish a framework of overall rules and financial incentives for increasing lighting and ventilation efficiency in their building stock.

The rules set new voluntary standards to encourage energy efficiency. The new standards apply to ventilation and lighting; for new and retrofit lighting systems the standard recommends a maximum installed power of 10 W/m^2. As for the financial incentives, each participant receives an investment bonus of 1.50 Swedish kronor (~19¢) for every kWh of electricity saved per year, up to a ceiling of 2.5 million kronor (~$ 310 000). For participants who apply this standard to their whole building stock, the ceiling is lifted to twice that amount. (Their electricity costs ~0.50 SEK/kWh.)

In 1991, Nutek asked for tenders from manufacturers. The winning manufacturer was guaranteed an order of 26 000 ballasts with an option to sell an additional 20 000 units, intended for either 36-W or 58-W fluorescent tubes. At that time, sales statistics from 1990 indicated that a modest 20 000 (dimmable) ballasts were sold annually. The main reason for buying electronic ballasts at this time was their dimmability, not that they were energy efficient.

The ballast to win the contract naturally had to meet minimum technical requirements. (As in most European countries, the International Electrotechnical Commission standard 555-2 is applied which, among other things, ensures a high power factor of ~0.96.) The buyers demanded that ballasts be of very high quality and wanted the winning manufacturer to offer a five-year warranty. Very few manufacturers were willing to meet the warranty requirement.

The buyers wanted a manufacturer that not only could offer a low price, but also one known to be capable of giving speedy and reliable service. They were also looking for a ballast that was compatible with advanced existing control systems and, since the contract was to cover a period of several years, that had a great potential for integration with advanced control systems using power lines as information carriers. Eventually, the Finnish firm Helvar won the contract. (However, other manufacturers are not excluded from Nutek-supported lighting projects.)

All manufacturers seem to have gained from the program. According to Nutek estimates, annual national sales had more than doubled by the end of 1991, when 60-70 000 units were sold. In 1992, sales had doubled again, and some 150 000 units were sold. Nutek estimates that 15% of all luminaires sold in Sweden today are equipped with electronic ballasts. This is higher than in Sweden's neighboring countries, but probably close to the European average. Prices also have fallen dramatically: In 1991, a buyer had to pay at least 600 SEK (~$ 75) more for a luminaire equipped with an electronic ballast than for one equipped with a magnetic ballast. A year later, this difference had fallen to about 250 SEK (~$ 31) or less. The extra cost for a dimmable ballast fell from ~1 000 SEK (~$ 125) to ~350 SEK (~$ 44).

Nutek is now in the initial stages of a procurement of wall-mounted occupancy sensors for office applications. Nutek requires that sensors be extremely easy to install and cost-effective. Next on the procurement list are luminaire-integrated occupancy sensors.

Nils Borg

For more info, contact:


DOEE/NUTEK, 117 86 Stockholm, Sweden
Fax: +46 8 681 95 85

About lighting on NUTEK/DOEE's web site:
http://www.stem.se/engelsk

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