National Energy wants people to ttEngage

It’s now easier to invest in TT’s energy sector. On Monday, the National Gas Company (NGC), through its subsidiary, National Energy, went live Monday with its new online portal, the ttEngage investor platform, described by the company as “a new phase of development in TT’s downstream energy sector.”

The platform, explained National Energy’s president Dr Vernon Paltoo at the launch event at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain, is a new model for facilitating investments in the downstream energy sector. It is heavily focused on improving the process of communication and collaboration among all stakeholders in the downstream energy investment process.

The project was initially announced in December 2018, and just over a year later, Paltoo said, it was delivered on time and within budget.

So what does it do? Potential registered investors can log on to the portal and review project promotions, submit concepts, project proposals and obtain relevant information, approvals and support from National Energy, as well as various statutory agencies. The overall investment process, National Energy hopes, will therefore be streamlined.

The platform is similar to those operating in other countries, Paltoo said, and is expected to reduce the investment process time for projects, as well as improve efficiency, and reduce the number of visits and direct engagements required for separate entities and agencies. “This is a collaborative effort across as many as eighteen agencies that are required to be engaged in the development of a downstream energy project. In this regard, deliberate work was undertaken in the past year to map the processes and engage the various organisations.” ttEngage is part of National Energy’s broader to meet the needs of a rapidly evolving local and global energy industry, he added, where the company will embrace the use of technology to drive efficiency and innovation in our operations.

The platform is just one part of National Energy’s plan to streamline business. Other areas are e-procurement, include e-auctioning, in which live bidding events are hosted, thereby improving efficiency and transparency, potentially reducing costs in the procurement of goods and services by up to 25 per cent in certain instances. Pre-qualification, requests for quotations, requests for information and requests for proposals are now fully online, and the tendering process can also be tracked in real-time. National Energy also started an electronic document management system to standardise and centralise records management. “This has resulted in reinforced governance practices and transparency across the organisation, as well as aiding in information storage and retrieval, and bolstered information security,” Paltoo said. The project is expected to be completed by the end of this quarter. Another project is the digitising and automating marine asset management. “We at National Energy are excited about this project, which will revolutionise our commercial operations,” he continued. Processes from order-to-payment for use of National Energy’s tugs, ports and piers will be fully digitised. This will improve productivity by replacing manual and repetitive systems, thereby reducing duplication and paperwork. Customers will benefit from an easy-to-use and responsive system that can be accessed from any mobile device, allowing real-time visibility of their operation’s status, as well as commercial information.

“With the employment of these technological solutions, National Energy is reinforcing the NGC’s strategic pillars and delivering on its operational plan to safeguard its existing business, enhance customer experience and grow revenues in the near-to-medium term,” Paltoo said.