PROPEL ENERGY EFFICIENCY FINANCE

Project Information

PROPEL

Grant agreement ID: 101033810

DOI

10.3030/101033810

Project closed

EC signature date 6 May 2021

Start date 1 June 2021

End date 30 November 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 1 495 317,50

EU contribution

€ 1 495 317,50

Coordinated by

JOULE ASSETS EUROPE GROUP SRL
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PROPEL (PROPEL ENERGY EFFICIENCY FINANCE)

Reporting period: 2022-12-01 to 2023-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

There is robust interest on the part of financial institutions to finance Energy Efficiency (EE) Projects in Europe. However, in order for these institutions to provide funding at scale, increased volume, replicability, standardisation, and aggregation of projects are critical. The shift in focus from individual projects to a portfolio approach has been successful in recent years with large renewable energy projects, and now the challenge is to extend this approach to smaller EE projects. Usually, (95% of the time) if project developers are brave enough to attempt this journey, they will discover, often not until the very end of the process, that they have neglected critical risk factors and their projects are not financeable. This can be after 2 to 3 years of work, and the associated unrecoverable costs. The non-standardised, unstructured approach to developing projects increases the project failure rate and slows market growth, for everyone, including institutions such as the European Investment Bank (EIB), as well as the project developers themselves. Indeed, these failures can lead companies to the edge of bankruptcy, and sometimes over it.

The scattered and fragmented nature of the energy efficiency market, with many small-scale projects being implemented using multiple technologies across different types of clients, makes mainstreaming EE finance challenging. The existing fractured and disorganised set of tools and materials, some of which are maintained, others not, and none of which have been designed to fit together into a holistic end-to-end service package, are utterly insufficient to meet the needs of the EE market. There is therefore a critical need for a single, holistic resource entity in Europe, which will be maintained and has ALL the critical collateral and process resources required to develop, sell, contract and finance energy efficiency projects at the scale and speed required. This is the vision for PROPEL – to set up such an entity that can provide long-lasting, continuous stimulus to the growth of the energy efficiency market in Europe.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

WP1 - Project Management
Project meetings and monthly consortium calls kept the project on track. A project website serves as repository for project deliverables: www.propelh2020.eu.

WP2 - DEVELOPMENT: loan application guidance and documentation
All 4 new project finance modules have been developed in RP1: the loan application guidance document, the KYC tool, the ESG module and the adapted company presentation template.

WP3 - INTEGRATION: tools and processes in PROPEL platform
All existing LAUNCH H2020 project finance modules (EEaaS contract, Risk Assessment Protocol, Sales and Marketing collateral) together with the 4 new PROPEL modules were digitalized and integrated into the SEFA member access platform. Modules are now available in multiple languages and transposition of data points between modules facilitates the use of the platform (duplication of data across projects is also enabled). The eQuad platform is integrated into the SEFA platform workflow as an additional module through an API. DocuSign is integrated as the independent third-party authenticator of contract signatures. Different user roles and access rights have been defined and developed. An external UI/UX review was contracted and a penetration stress test was performed on the platform, with excellent results. The platform is fully ready and available for use to stakeholders.

WP4 - EDUCATION: Capacity Building Programme
The PROPEL Capacity Building Programme (CBP) has been rolled out successfully in 2022, with national associations acting as multipliers and channel partners. Training materials for various project finance modules were developed on Nearpod and made available to CBP participants. National associations have been engaged in the Netherlands, Italy and Spain to act as multipliers.

WP5 - IMPLEMENTATION: matchmaking and monitoring
Finance Partners have been onboarded, providing their respective investment criteria for project funding. 7 project developers have been shortlisted, with additional 20+ lined up for onboarding in Q1 of 2023. A workflow has been defined to ensure the correct handover between communication/outreach efforts, CBP and project processing (WP5). A total of 269 Mio Euro worth of projects were processed in WP5.

WP6 - CONTINUATION: Dissemination & Exploitation
SEFA was incorporated in Q2 of 2023, with a total of 25 founding members, representing financiers, property managers, project developers and technology providers. The public launch of SEFA took place in May 2023 in Brussels. Foundational documents including the deed of incorporation, a vision/mission statement and an initial business plan were created. External funding sources have been identified and shortlisted. 8 events and activities were organised by the consortium and 9 external events attended, several of which with exhibition booths and presentations given.

WP7 - Communication and Stakeholder Engagement
A number of communication materials was developed, including:
• PROPEL & SEFA Brand guide including logo, stylistic guide and a PowerPoint presentation template;
• Development and maintenance of digital channels including PROPEL project website and SEFA website, Twitter account and mailing list;
• Printed material used at events such as brochures and roll-up banners;
• A suite of videos on the PROPEL / SEFA tools and materials presented by the project partners, including introductory videos uploaded to YouTube and self-paced training modules shared through the Nearpod online learning platform.
All 3 key stakeholder groups were engaged in various capacities, including external events, targeted campaigns, bilateral calls and workshops.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The PROPEL project has built on the consortium’s significant ownership of, and access to, the full range of necessary standardised financing collateral, to deploy this collateral in the market while at the same time, and firmly established an industry association, the Sustainable Energy Finance Association (SEFA), which will act as THE knowledge and resource centre for the mainstreaming of finance into sustainable energy assets, long after its completion. The PROPEL project has developped an integrated ecosystem of financing collateral and relevant actors, which together will drive the market for sustainable energy assets forward. PROPEL focused on building and testing this ecosystem in four countries (Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Spain), reaching out to more than 300 EE projects developers (supply side), 110 end-client representatives (demand side), and 95 financiers (banks and financial funds).
PROPEL has triggered €39.95M of investments into EE Projects within the project duration, leading to 80,82 GWh of annual primary energy savings and 22'572 tCO2 savings. These impacts are estimated to grow 25 fold within the 5 years after the project, due to PROPEL’s aim at creating a long-lasting eco-system, which will be hosted by SEFA. The PROPEL consortium has a wealth of expertise in developing standardised collateral and putting together the building blocks for development of a single ecosystem of collateral and actors that will enable and facilitate the scaling up and acceleration of financing to the sustainable energy market.

PROPEL logo