Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Ren-on-Bill (Residential Building Energy Renovations with On-Bill Financing)
Période du rapport: 2020-11-01 au 2022-04-30
In order to meet the 2050 long-term target for reducing EU GHG emissions by 80%, it is necessary to dramatically increase the yearly building renovation rate from the current 0.4%-1.2% to at least 2.3%. Meeting this objective requires the utilisation of massive resources involving financial institutions that may be reluctant to get involved.
On-bill schemes (OBS) offer a way of financing energy renovations that utilise utility bills as repayment vehicle. On-bill schemes have been in use for more than 30 years in the USA and Canada, where it significantly drives the building renovation market. In Europe, few attempts have been made, but the potential for on-bill schemes in Europe remains significant.
RenOnBill’s overall objective was to scale up investments towards deep energy renovations of residential buildings by promoting the development and implementation of on-bill schemes, based on the cooperation between energy utilities and financial institutions. In particular, the project seeked to:
• Analyse and define the residential building market context to enable replication of suitable on-bill schemes across Europe. A set of reports on the EU residential building market, the main barriers to OBS and its replicability potential were produced to cope with this objective.
• Engage key stakeholders through national stakeholder platforms. By the end of the project, 4 national platforms had been created, with more than 20 stakeholders each, whose members have been regularly involved in the project.
• Demand and assess and bundle investments based on a transparent methodology. In 2022 the online version of the Energy Renovation Valuation (ERV) tool was released, allowing to estimate the energy savings and economic returns of on-bill projects.
• Develop and implement business models in the three RenOnBill partner utilities through the development of pilot on-bill schemes. The three partner utilities have elaborated thoughtful strategic plans to launch on-bill projects. In Italy, investments on a pilot project had been already made.
• Utilise RenOnBill results and insights gained to support and disseminate EU-wide knowledge on OBS. RenOn-Bill was presented at 20 events both at EU and national level amounting to a total of around 2500 participants. Furthermore, the project won the Citizens’ Award at the 2021 EU Sustainable Energy Awards.
On-bill schemes (OBS) offer a way of financing energy renovations that utilise utility bills as repayment vehicle. On-bill schemes have been in use for more than 30 years in the USA and Canada, where it significantly drives the building renovation market. In Europe, few attempts have been made, but the potential for on-bill schemes in Europe remains significant.
RenOnBill’s overall objective was to scale up investments towards deep energy renovations of residential buildings by promoting the development and implementation of on-bill schemes, based on the cooperation between energy utilities and financial institutions. In particular, the project seeked to:
• Analyse and define the residential building market context to enable replication of suitable on-bill schemes across Europe. A set of reports on the EU residential building market, the main barriers to OBS and its replicability potential were produced to cope with this objective.
• Engage key stakeholders through national stakeholder platforms. By the end of the project, 4 national platforms had been created, with more than 20 stakeholders each, whose members have been regularly involved in the project.
• Demand and assess and bundle investments based on a transparent methodology. In 2022 the online version of the Energy Renovation Valuation (ERV) tool was released, allowing to estimate the energy savings and economic returns of on-bill projects.
• Develop and implement business models in the three RenOnBill partner utilities through the development of pilot on-bill schemes. The three partner utilities have elaborated thoughtful strategic plans to launch on-bill projects. In Italy, investments on a pilot project had been already made.
• Utilise RenOnBill results and insights gained to support and disseminate EU-wide knowledge on OBS. RenOn-Bill was presented at 20 events both at EU and national level amounting to a total of around 2500 participants. Furthermore, the project won the Citizens’ Award at the 2021 EU Sustainable Energy Awards.
The first steps of the project were oriented to research the framework conditions, the barriers, and the existing examples of on-bill schemes across Europe and beyond. As a result, three main reports were concluded, laying the foundation for successful replication.
During the first year of the project, national stakeholder platforms in the four focus countries (involving energy utilities, financial institutions, ESCOs and installers, homeowners and tenants and policy makers) were set up. Their input was crucial in the second half of the project, helping to identify the challenges and possible solutions for scaling up OBS in Europe. The insights obtained from the project webinars, questionnaires and national roundtables are now an integral part of the national roadmaps. These reports, available in the 4 national languages, contains action plans to facilitate the replication of on-bill schemes in the national context.
One of the milestones of this project was achieved with the release of the on-line version (and open-source code) of the ERV-Tool. The tool estimates the energy and the economic returns of the renovation measures providing an overall projection of the financial risks through statistic methods.
During the second half of the project, partner utilities have been working on the development of their strategies to set up on-bill offers (reflecting on the market conditions, the selection of the preferred business model, the criteria for customer segmentation and the identification of strategic partners among other key aspects). Furthermore, utilities used the ERV-Tool to assess the risks and returns of their projects, helping to refine their pilot strategies. In parallel, Creara led the development of the On-bill schemes utility business model guidelines, a comprehensive report that set the principles for the development of OBS that accompanies the interested agent through the whole decisional process to launch OBS projects.
During the last stages of the project, partners focused on the elaboration of the Roadmaps for the replication of on-bill schemes in EU. BPIE described in a report the policy changes needed to maximise the uptake of on-bill schemes in the EU residential market, providing policy solutions applicable at EU and national level, with special focus on the first three years after the end of the RenOnBill project (2022-2025).
In parallel, Creara, supported by all partners, realised the Commercial exploitation roadmap. The Lean Canvas methodology was used to characterise the 4 identified KERs: 1) On-bill business model guidelines, 2) Demand structuring and investment valuation tool (ERV-Tool), 3) Knowledge and know-how of the residential energy renovation market, specifically OBS topic, and 4) National Stakeholder Platforms.
RenOnBill was presented at 20 events both at EU and national level amounting to a total of around 3000 participants. Seven dissemination webinars were held during the project lifetime Four policy briefings linking RenOnBill to the newest EU policy development (i.e Renovation Wave, Recovery and Resilience plans and new Directive on Energy Performance in Buildings) were published. In addition, 4 scientific papers haven been produced (three of them already published).
During the first year of the project, national stakeholder platforms in the four focus countries (involving energy utilities, financial institutions, ESCOs and installers, homeowners and tenants and policy makers) were set up. Their input was crucial in the second half of the project, helping to identify the challenges and possible solutions for scaling up OBS in Europe. The insights obtained from the project webinars, questionnaires and national roundtables are now an integral part of the national roadmaps. These reports, available in the 4 national languages, contains action plans to facilitate the replication of on-bill schemes in the national context.
One of the milestones of this project was achieved with the release of the on-line version (and open-source code) of the ERV-Tool. The tool estimates the energy and the economic returns of the renovation measures providing an overall projection of the financial risks through statistic methods.
During the second half of the project, partner utilities have been working on the development of their strategies to set up on-bill offers (reflecting on the market conditions, the selection of the preferred business model, the criteria for customer segmentation and the identification of strategic partners among other key aspects). Furthermore, utilities used the ERV-Tool to assess the risks and returns of their projects, helping to refine their pilot strategies. In parallel, Creara led the development of the On-bill schemes utility business model guidelines, a comprehensive report that set the principles for the development of OBS that accompanies the interested agent through the whole decisional process to launch OBS projects.
During the last stages of the project, partners focused on the elaboration of the Roadmaps for the replication of on-bill schemes in EU. BPIE described in a report the policy changes needed to maximise the uptake of on-bill schemes in the EU residential market, providing policy solutions applicable at EU and national level, with special focus on the first three years after the end of the RenOnBill project (2022-2025).
In parallel, Creara, supported by all partners, realised the Commercial exploitation roadmap. The Lean Canvas methodology was used to characterise the 4 identified KERs: 1) On-bill business model guidelines, 2) Demand structuring and investment valuation tool (ERV-Tool), 3) Knowledge and know-how of the residential energy renovation market, specifically OBS topic, and 4) National Stakeholder Platforms.
RenOnBill was presented at 20 events both at EU and national level amounting to a total of around 3000 participants. Seven dissemination webinars were held during the project lifetime Four policy briefings linking RenOnBill to the newest EU policy development (i.e Renovation Wave, Recovery and Resilience plans and new Directive on Energy Performance in Buildings) were published. In addition, 4 scientific papers haven been produced (three of them already published).
The project has positively impacted on utilities, financial agents and other energy efficiency market players and on the society as a whole. Each of the utilities participating in the RenOnBill consortium has already developed their own plan to launch building renovation solutions to the marked based on OBS. Moreover, RenonBill has enabled all utilities participating in its stakeholder engagement activities to develop pipelines of energy efficiency on-bill investments in the residential sector, acting as aggregators. To that aim, utilities can access to the set of tools, from reports to guidelines and the online ERV-Tool.
Assuming that the majority of agents trained on OBS through the guideline’s consultation (free of charge) or through the hiring of consultancy services (both are exploitable results) will become aggregators, the estimation is to reach 28 companies by the end of the fifth year after the project’s end (which adds to the 19 companies already trained within the project duration).
BluEnergy in Italy has already launched its first pilot project, and the other two partner utilities have set plans for the future. Withing the project lifetime primary savings amounted 5.6 GWh/YEAR and the estimation is to reach 39.2 GWh/year in a 5 years period, which represents 7,165 tCO2/year of GHG emissions avoided.
Assuming that the majority of agents trained on OBS through the guideline’s consultation (free of charge) or through the hiring of consultancy services (both are exploitable results) will become aggregators, the estimation is to reach 28 companies by the end of the fifth year after the project’s end (which adds to the 19 companies already trained within the project duration).
BluEnergy in Italy has already launched its first pilot project, and the other two partner utilities have set plans for the future. Withing the project lifetime primary savings amounted 5.6 GWh/YEAR and the estimation is to reach 39.2 GWh/year in a 5 years period, which represents 7,165 tCO2/year of GHG emissions avoided.