Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TIGER (Triggered Investments in Grouping of buildings for Energy Renovation)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2021-06-01 do 2022-11-30
Building a greener social housing sector
Buildings account for almost 40 % of energy-related carbon emissions and 36 % of energy consumption. In Europe, most buildings are old (built before 2001) and are heated mainly by fossil fuels. The EU-funded TIGER project will focus on interventions in the social housing (SH) sector, which is among the most problematic. SH buildings lack a long-term energy strategy. TIGER will develop energy renovation interventions, implementing a new innovative model, engaging over 1 500 families living in 126 SH buildings located in 58 municipalities in Italy’s Abruzzo region. An investment scheme and a capacity building programme for tenants will be set. TIGER will also address energy poverty by achieving adequate comfort levels.
Objective
The building sector is one of the major consumers of energy in Europe, responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions. Furthermore, Social Housing (SH) buildings show a critical state due to the lack of constant resources to upkeep and refurbish the existing stock and a long-term sound energy strategy (having to deal with emergencies). TIGER intends to improve the efficiency of SH by addressing the issues of the lack of funding and also contribute to tackling energy poverty which is a growing issue in Europe. Between 50 and 125M Europeans are unable to afford thermal comfort.
The main aim of TIGER is the implementation of energy renovation interventions in SH buildings, expecting an investment over 16M€ through Energy Performance Contracting (EPC), with a simple payback period of 4 years. TIGER will engage over 1500 families living in 126 SH buildings, located in 58 municipalities in Abruzzo Region saving 8,7GWh/y of primary energy and reducing CO2 emissions of 1760tCO2/y, contributing to decarbonising the building stock. Further TIGER addresses energy poverty by improving energy efficiency, reducing energy consumptions and achieving adequate comfort levels.
TIGER will develop an innovative model to be replicated and taken-up in different SH contexts. For the first time there will be a fully regional geographic approach- all 5 local SH operators will be engaged. Also the funding mechanism is innovative combining EPC with other financial instruments (ERDF, tax deductions, incentives, soft loan) in order to trigger investments by ESCOs.
To properly deliver the setting-up of the investment scheme and the engagement and consensus of tenants, TIGER will appoint a PDA team including all technical and non-technical competencies and experiences (financial, technical and legal) and a capacity building programme for tenants will be set up to encourage vulnerable consumers to change their energy related behaviour.
Buildings account for almost 40 % of energy-related carbon emissions and 36 % of energy consumption. In Europe, most buildings are old (built before 2001) and are heated mainly by fossil fuels. The EU-funded TIGER project will focus on interventions in the social housing (SH) sector, which is among the most problematic. SH buildings lack a long-term energy strategy. TIGER will develop energy renovation interventions, implementing a new innovative model, engaging over 1 500 families living in 126 SH buildings located in 58 municipalities in Italy’s Abruzzo region. An investment scheme and a capacity building programme for tenants will be set. TIGER will also address energy poverty by achieving adequate comfort levels.
Objective
The building sector is one of the major consumers of energy in Europe, responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions. Furthermore, Social Housing (SH) buildings show a critical state due to the lack of constant resources to upkeep and refurbish the existing stock and a long-term sound energy strategy (having to deal with emergencies). TIGER intends to improve the efficiency of SH by addressing the issues of the lack of funding and also contribute to tackling energy poverty which is a growing issue in Europe. Between 50 and 125M Europeans are unable to afford thermal comfort.
The main aim of TIGER is the implementation of energy renovation interventions in SH buildings, expecting an investment over 16M€ through Energy Performance Contracting (EPC), with a simple payback period of 4 years. TIGER will engage over 1500 families living in 126 SH buildings, located in 58 municipalities in Abruzzo Region saving 8,7GWh/y of primary energy and reducing CO2 emissions of 1760tCO2/y, contributing to decarbonising the building stock. Further TIGER addresses energy poverty by improving energy efficiency, reducing energy consumptions and achieving adequate comfort levels.
TIGER will develop an innovative model to be replicated and taken-up in different SH contexts. For the first time there will be a fully regional geographic approach- all 5 local SH operators will be engaged. Also the funding mechanism is innovative combining EPC with other financial instruments (ERDF, tax deductions, incentives, soft loan) in order to trigger investments by ESCOs.
To properly deliver the setting-up of the investment scheme and the engagement and consensus of tenants, TIGER will appoint a PDA team including all technical and non-technical competencies and experiences (financial, technical and legal) and a capacity building programme for tenants will be set up to encourage vulnerable consumers to change their energy related behaviour.
From the beginning of the project until the month 18, partners worked on the various work packages as defined in the Annex A of the Grant Agreement. Following are listed main activities and results of first 18 months of the project:
● WP1: this work package concerns general organization and management of the project. WP1 Deliverables and periodical Steering Committees and other Monitoring meeting has been organized following the program’s due dates.
● WP2 – Preparation phase: The aim of this phase is to prepare the conditions to launch the tender. The activities included in this WP are either already completed or soon to be finalized: defined a common methodology for the assessment and energy audit trough the design of a specific toolkit; legal expert and energy auditors (subcontractors) have been selected; AGENA has coordinated the transfer of the evaluation methodology to the auditors; the ATER involved are finalizing the audit phase, on which in some cases there has been some delay due to lack of collaboration from the tenants of the apartments. Modification on the regional law, mandatory in order to introduce the possibility to increase the renting fee according with the energy saving achieved by the investment, has been finalized, under the coordination of the Abruzzo RegionThe formal approval process is currently underway.
Currently AESS and the Legal Expert are working on drafting the EPTA (Energy Performance Tenancy Agreement) for the use of energy saving to payback the retrofit investment program in accordance with the modified regional law. Finally, thanks to the work performed from the partner AESS, has been settled an innovative social housing financial scheme.
• WP3 – Tender specification: In this phase partners plan interventions and overall legal, technical and economic feasibility/ bankability issues in order to launch the tender in WP4. Actually, partners involved in the task are working on first legal specification for the joint procurement and the tender specification. At the moment, this task is affected by the postponement in the conclusion of the energy audits, needed to define the baseline (the energy status of the buildings and the potential for improvement).
● WP4 – Procurement: At the moment the partners have not started this phase as it mainly relates to the preparation, launch of the tender as well as selection of the successful tenderers, all phases subsequent to those foreseen in WP3.
● WP5 – Communication and community engagement - The objective of WP5 is to ensure that project strategy deliverable and results are clearly addressed to the target groups using the most appropriate communication channels. Specifically, the actions related to WP5 carried out throughout the first 18 months of the project are: informal workshops with householders were organized by ATERs to increase householders’ awareness of energy efficiency; leaflets on domestic energy consumption were produced and distributed to householders; 10 videos on energy consumption and household energy efficiency topics targeting householders were created and shared on TIGER’s and partners’ social media platforms; TIGER 2023 calendar was prepared and disseminated among householders; virtual and physical helpdesks were set-up in 4 ATERs to provide information about the TIGER project to householders; a manual on energy efficiency and good practices on energy consumptions was prepared and disseminated; operators from ATERs were trained through a course aimed at providing them with knowledge on the theme of energy efficiency and at increasing operators’ communication skills.
● WP6 - Dissemination and exploitation activities - WP6 wants to ensure that the TIGER project is widely disseminated at National and European level; for this reason, the target groups of this WP are mainly public authorities, social housing actors and other stakeholders. For this WP, AISFOR, during the first 18 months of the project, carried out the following activities: communication materials, such as brochures, roll-ups, and posters, were produced and distributed; the website and social media channels of the project were made operational; news related to the project’s results has been released on a monthly basis on the TIGER social media channels, project public deliverables were updated on the TIGER website, customized templates for project presentation were disseminated among partners and are regularly employed during presentations. Partners have also participated in several national and European events to present and disseminate the results achieved by TIGER and its final objectives.
● WP1: this work package concerns general organization and management of the project. WP1 Deliverables and periodical Steering Committees and other Monitoring meeting has been organized following the program’s due dates.
● WP2 – Preparation phase: The aim of this phase is to prepare the conditions to launch the tender. The activities included in this WP are either already completed or soon to be finalized: defined a common methodology for the assessment and energy audit trough the design of a specific toolkit; legal expert and energy auditors (subcontractors) have been selected; AGENA has coordinated the transfer of the evaluation methodology to the auditors; the ATER involved are finalizing the audit phase, on which in some cases there has been some delay due to lack of collaboration from the tenants of the apartments. Modification on the regional law, mandatory in order to introduce the possibility to increase the renting fee according with the energy saving achieved by the investment, has been finalized, under the coordination of the Abruzzo RegionThe formal approval process is currently underway.
Currently AESS and the Legal Expert are working on drafting the EPTA (Energy Performance Tenancy Agreement) for the use of energy saving to payback the retrofit investment program in accordance with the modified regional law. Finally, thanks to the work performed from the partner AESS, has been settled an innovative social housing financial scheme.
• WP3 – Tender specification: In this phase partners plan interventions and overall legal, technical and economic feasibility/ bankability issues in order to launch the tender in WP4. Actually, partners involved in the task are working on first legal specification for the joint procurement and the tender specification. At the moment, this task is affected by the postponement in the conclusion of the energy audits, needed to define the baseline (the energy status of the buildings and the potential for improvement).
● WP4 – Procurement: At the moment the partners have not started this phase as it mainly relates to the preparation, launch of the tender as well as selection of the successful tenderers, all phases subsequent to those foreseen in WP3.
● WP5 – Communication and community engagement - The objective of WP5 is to ensure that project strategy deliverable and results are clearly addressed to the target groups using the most appropriate communication channels. Specifically, the actions related to WP5 carried out throughout the first 18 months of the project are: informal workshops with householders were organized by ATERs to increase householders’ awareness of energy efficiency; leaflets on domestic energy consumption were produced and distributed to householders; 10 videos on energy consumption and household energy efficiency topics targeting householders were created and shared on TIGER’s and partners’ social media platforms; TIGER 2023 calendar was prepared and disseminated among householders; virtual and physical helpdesks were set-up in 4 ATERs to provide information about the TIGER project to householders; a manual on energy efficiency and good practices on energy consumptions was prepared and disseminated; operators from ATERs were trained through a course aimed at providing them with knowledge on the theme of energy efficiency and at increasing operators’ communication skills.
● WP6 - Dissemination and exploitation activities - WP6 wants to ensure that the TIGER project is widely disseminated at National and European level; for this reason, the target groups of this WP are mainly public authorities, social housing actors and other stakeholders. For this WP, AISFOR, during the first 18 months of the project, carried out the following activities: communication materials, such as brochures, roll-ups, and posters, were produced and distributed; the website and social media channels of the project were made operational; news related to the project’s results has been released on a monthly basis on the TIGER social media channels, project public deliverables were updated on the TIGER website, customized templates for project presentation were disseminated among partners and are regularly employed during presentations. Partners have also participated in several national and European events to present and disseminate the results achieved by TIGER and its final objectives.