Building TRUST in Energy Performance Contracting for tertiary sector energy efficiency and sustainable energy projects in Southern European Countries

Project Information

TRUST-EPC-SOUTH

Grant agreement ID: 649772

DOI

10.3030/649772

Project closed

EC signature date 5 February 2015

Start date 1 March 2015

End date 30 June 2018

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 1 936 975,00

EU contribution

€ 1 936 975,00

Coordinated by

CREARA CONSULTORES SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TRUST-EPC-SOUTH (Building TRUST in Energy Performance Contracting for tertiary sector energy efficiency and sustainable energy projects in Southern European Countries)

Reporting period: 2016-09-01 to 2018-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Achieving the European Union’s energy efficiency targets and at the same time reducing our dependency on energy imports is an ambitious mission that requires innovative approaches and tools – such as the ones Trust EPC South aimed to provide.

Energy Performance Contracts (EPC) allow for the realization of energy efficiency investments in buildings and other facilities utilizing third party financing. Therefore, they do not require the building owner to invest his own capital and allow instead the investment to be repaid with the resulting economic savings, which are guaranteed by the EPC provider. However, due to several barriers, this market is far from achieving its full potential, especially in the tertiary sector and in southern European markets.

The aim of Trust EPC South was to raise awareness for Energy Performance Contracts in Southern Europe by setting up a standardised approach allowing for risk assessment and benchmarking of energy saving investments, in order to create a common understanding as well as transparency and trust for all investment project stakeholders (financial institutions, real estate and tertiary sector actors and EPC providers).

Trust EPC South pursued its objectives in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia and Greece. The project consortium, led by the Spanish firm Creara, is composed by interdisciplinary experts representing the participating countries and by the Green Rating Alliance, in charge of exploitation. The partners are united by the common intent to stimulate investments in the target markets, which are offering great opportunities for energy efficiency as well as energy performance contracting. The detailed project objectives can be summarized as:

- Promoting dialogue and synergies between the EPC offer side, the tertiary sector demand side and the financing side;
- Providing training on financing solutions and EPC basics for financing institutions, investor groups, certification bodies, the energy efficiency services sector, tertiary sector actors, public authorities and policy makers;
- Developing a robust investment assessment and benchmarking tool based on the existing Green Rating™ methodology and tools;
- Facilitating, thanks to the investment assessment tool, the financing process for small and medium EPC projects, leveraging on the fact that our standardised approach is certified by an independent third party and allows for reduced transaction costs.

The Trust EPC South project was successfully concluded during summer 2018, after accomplishing all its original objectives including the development of the GREPCon service, allowing for a standardised approach to the assessment of energy renovations in tertiary sector buildings.

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

OVERALL RESULTS

- We have conducted a detailed market research focused on participating countries’ tertiary sectors, highlighting EPC and energy renovations market potential, principal barriers, key applications, best practices and identifying the principal stakeholders;
- We have upgraded the Green Rating methodology, which now features support for all key tertiary sector buildings and facilities and integrates analytical models of 47 building energy saving measures
- We have integrated the new methodology in an investment assessment tool that allows for technical and financial modelling and risk assessment, thus developing the GREPCon service;
- We have identified 46 pilot projects on which the GREPCon service was validated and fine-tuned;
- In each country, we have activated national stakeholder discussion groups that were instrumental in deepening the discussion on market barriers and potential, leading to national roadmaps proposing practical measures to be enacted by market participants and policymakers;
- We have organized 16 Capacity Building Workshops reaching a total of 777 participants in the country partners;
- We have spread the project to the Balkan areas, organizing 3 capacity building workshops in three different countries reaching a total of 80 participants;
- We have organised 2 EU-wide webinars gathering 154 participants;
- We have developed training modules on EPCs in English and national languages, and made them available in the project’s website.

DISSEMINATION RESULTS

- We have designed and implemented a holistic dissemination strategy, including both online and offline actions;
- We have created an international website and adapted it in all the national languages. The European and national websites have been continuously updated. The website has reached so far over 20.000 page views, 19.000 sessions, 7.900 unique visitors and a total of over 4.000 downloads (of which 3.300 of training materials);
- We have designed and developed a promotional motion graphic video in order to present and support the dissemination of GREPCon service;
- We have published 3 press releases in 6 different languages to present different project achievements;
- We have realised a White Paper and a brochure dedicated to the GREPCon service;
- We have updated and managed the social media accounts (LinkedIn and Twitter). On Twitter, the Trust EPC South project has 268 followers while on LinkedIn, it has 140 followers.
- We have published news and content on the project website (90 international news and 102 national news) and shared them on social media networks;
- We have created 16 newsletters and distributed them to over 400 contacts each;
- We have created synergies with several EU projects: Investor Confidence Project, SEAF, EPC+, Streetlight EPC, EnPC-INTRANS, VIMSEN, REBUS, CERTUS, ENERinvest, ENERJ, ICTfootprint.eu and neZEH;
- We have published 2 peer-reviewed articles, 1 book chapter and other 5 publications;
- We have presented the project in 25 national and 18 international events.

EXPLOITATION RESULTS

- We have elaborated a long-term exploitation strategy for the GREPCon service, taking into consideration the strategy of all consortium partners and the particularities of the energy renovation market, aiming to maximize the impact by allowing all interested parties to access the developed tools and offer the GREPCon service by participating to a training and accreditation programme;
- We have developed a pipeline of further possible energy renovation projects to be assessed in the future, identifying over 70 potential business opportunities, fostering the long-term sustainability of the GREPCon service.

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 GREPCon investment assessment and benchmarking service, together with the other capacity building and training activities outlined above, have the potential to significantly facilitate the identification and prioritisation of energy renovations in tertiary sector buildings, financial and technical risk assessment, and decision making by financial institutions and real estate and tertiary sector stakeholders.

MAIN IMPACTS

- 1.011 stakeholders reached through capacity building activities
- 46 pilot projects assessed for a total investment of 9.7 M€
- 15,1 GWh identified as potential savings
- 2,6 GWh identified as potential Renewable Energy Source generation
- 13 of the assessed pilot projects are currently under implementation:
- EUR 1,3 million under EPC schemes
- EUR 1,8 million with other financing arrangements
- Expected Energy Savings: 4,367 MWh/year
- Expected Economic Savings: 608,000 EUR/year
- Expected Renewable Energy Source generation : 342 MWh/year

The GREPCon service will be launched to the public at the beginning of 2019.

TRUST EPC SOUTH APPROACH FOR PROJECT ASSESSMENT

TRUST EPC SOUTH APPROACH FOR PROJECT ASSESSMENT

GREPCON STAKEHOLDERS