Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PEER (Porto Energy ElevatoR)
Reporting period: 2022-12-01 to 2024-11-30
PEER aims to provide support in mitigating energy poverty in the Municipalities of the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP), Portugal, through the deployment of the Porto Energy Hub (PEH), a one-stop-shop deployed to assist public and private stakeholders, including the Municipalities of the AMP, private charity institutions, housing cooperatives and homeowners, in finding all information and services needed to implement energy renovation projects and renewable energy production in residential buildings. PEER also aims to enable project aggregation models to boost synergies and investment volume to engage the market. This approach allows to ease market barriers and the development of bold financial schemes and business models to guarantee the implementation of the proposed investment pipeline to mitigate energy poverty and provide low-income households and social housing the required finance to energy efficiency renovation actions and energy communities development. Alongside, PEER aims to develop and implement attractive and alternative financial, business and procurement models for the market.
PEER addresses a set of 7 Specific Objectives (SO). SO1 – Energy Efficiency improvements- The support provided in WP4, WP5 and WP6 by PEER during this reporting period allowed to support 2783 dwellings in private and social housing buildings so far, within the territory of the northern metropolitan area of Porto. Besides municipality-owned social housing, private-owned buildings and dwellings were also supported. SO2 – Development of Energy Communities: The technical support provided in the scope of WP4 – Engineering and project development has included detailed studies for PV dimensioning and integration in deep renovation interventions. Several PV systems, totalling 0.59 MW, were effectively implemented. These studies were mainly performed by AdEPorto, with the support of RdA. Additionally, PEER team also supported municipality of Porto in launching a tender for the installation of several PV installations (e.g. 2 MWp in 2024) and throughout the licensing and deployment of the first renewable energy community in a social housing district in the city (Agra do Amial). SO3 – Leveraging of innovative financing schemes leveraged on aggregation tools:An innovative financing schemes have been developed for the implementation of energy efficiency measures implementation under WP 6 – Alternative Financing Schemes and Investor Engagement, with the legal support of the work developed in WP5. This model has been presented to project developers and municipalities which have offered important feedback that was used for the calibration of the model. The final version of the Financial Model has been concluded and tools for its implementation developed (D6.5 - Guidance for the Financial Model). SO4 – Develop the tools to guarantee the maximisation of the social engagement of end-users: In the scope of WP3 – Benchmark, case studies and social diagnostic, a social diagnosis of the region was carried out to characterise relevant energy poverty indicators. This action was performed in the scope of Task 3.3 – Social strategy and action plan coordinated by AdEPorto with the support of the remaining partners, specially Telles and S317. SO5 – Enhance the capacity and awareness of local municipalities and homeowners: Since the beginning of the project, the cnsortium was able to implemente na online hub and six physical One stop shops in municipalities. With the operation of physical spaces, the PEER project made the subject of energy efficiency improvements and energy poverty very visible to both local entities and homeowners. Additionally, the capacity and awareness were also influenced at the national level by the project, being referenced in the national strategy for energy poverty mitigation as a best pratice to follow. SO6 – Enhance the replicability through the standardisation of projects: A standard documentation package was developed and delivered in month 4, within Task 4.1. Also, within the operationalisation of PEH in WP2 and the pipeline development in WP4, standard documents have been created as to simplify procedures and enable easy replication. SO7 – Promote local jobs: As indicated in the brief explanations of SO1 and SO2, PEER has been providing support to multiple projects involving energy efficiency improvements and energy communities’ developments, the majority of which gave significant potential for local job creation/retention.
At the end of the project it was possible to verify the evolution of these indicators was as follows: a)3000 renovated dwellings: The assistance provided in WP4, WP5 and WP6 by PEER during this reporting period allowed to support a total of 2783 dwellings. These figures indicate only signed contracts and tenders launched. b)12 MW of installed PV power: The support provided in WP4, WP5 and WP6 by PEER during this reporting period supported the installation of a total of 0.59 MWp. c)Innovative financing solutions and/or schemes: an innovative financing scheme was developed and presented to stakeholders. d)27.2 M€ of investment in sustainable energy: A total of 75 supported projects had the contract signed or the tender launched within the duration of the PEER project. These interventions represent a total amount of 27.4 M€. e)70.643 MWh/year of primary energy savings: The projects supported by PEER will allow for circa 22 270 MWh/year of primary energy savings. f)16 668 MWh/year of renewable energy production: The projects supported by PEER will produce an estimated 828.67 MWh/year of renewable energy. g)Number of engaged investors: So far, the Consortium has been contacting and meeting with investors, and ESCOs which have already demonstrated their interest in partnering with PEER, both to finance projects through their own loan lines (Commercial bank) and by using the financing model developed under WP6 (ESCos). In total, seven investors (six ESCOs + one commercial bank) have been already engaged, as of this reporting period. For the public social housing renovation actions, the main investor/source of financing has been the Resilience and Recovery Plan Funds, given by the EC structural Funds. h) 10 471 ton CO2e/year of Green House Gas (GHG) emission reduction: The projects supported by PEER will allow for 3608.33 ton CO2e/year of GHG emission reduction. i)Indoor environmental quality parameters: Indoor environmental quality parameters were collected between March 2024 and October 2024 and verified an improvement of indoor considtions by the renovations made.