Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EN-TRACK (Energy Efficiency Performance-Tracking Platform for Benchmarking Savings and Investments in Buildings)
Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2024-04-30
One of the principal challenges to increasing energy efficiency investments in buildings is the lack of statistical data on the actual energy and costs savings achieved with them. However, this data is still hard to access, aggregate, share and utilise because it is being housed in many decentralised databases, and in different formats. The potential for providing more reliable empirical evidence on the performance of the potential investments based on analysis, comparisons and benchmarking of this data is huge but there is a puzzle to be solved for this potential to be realised.
The creation of “operational” databases supporting portfolio benchmarking has been addressed recently to certain extent by some tools and databases developed in Europe. However, due to lack of comparability and interoperability with other tools, it is difficult to achieve sufficient critical mass of data and users for successful commercial uptake of these tools. Achieving this comparability and interoperability is one of the puzzle pieces.
In parallel, large building portfolio owners such as Public Authorities and other large building owners, are responsible for a significant part of Europe’s building stock and already have the necessary energy and financial information to evaluate the performance of energy efficiency investments in their buildings. However, this information is dispersed and managed either in separate departments (O&M, Accounts, etc.) or by external providers, and data gathering is difficult. Facilitating the access to this information is another piece of the puzzle.
According to official sources, buildings in the EU are responsible for 40% of our energy consumption and roughly 75% of the EU building stock is energy inefficient. Renovation of buildings to improve energy efficiency is given a prominent role in the European Green Deal, as it can produce enormous social impact by reducing emissions, diminishing dependence on fossil fuels, and tackling poverty. However, a huge amount of investment needs to be mobilised in order to fulfil this prominent role. This is yet another puzzle piece.
The EN-TRACK project successfully contributed to overcoming the above challenges by solving each individual puzzle and also by working to ensure that all of the pieces fit together to bring closer the overall goal: making financing of energy retrofitting in buildings a mainstream activity in the financial sector.
The project achieved all of its main objectives:
• EN-TRACK developed a big data platform for gathering large-scale data on the actual performance of energy efficiency investments in buildings. The platform went public in July 2023 and engaged more than 130 public building portfolio managers from Spain and Bulgaria in continuous data collection, gathering data on the performance of more than 9,000 buildings and 21,000 energy efficiency measures.
• The platform offered services for performance monitoring and robust benchmarking of buildings and energy efficiency investments for decision support and de-risking of investments, addressing more than 300 financial institutions and directly involving 75 of them in the project activities.
• The EN-TRACK platform established interoperability with the currently most active databases and tools in Europe, enabling data exchange and joint services. EN-TRACK became one of the major contributors of data to the EEFIG-DEEP platform, with investments performance data for more than 4,200 buildings already submitted. It also developed and successfully demonstrated joint services with the eQuad platform, enabling data exchange, financial pre-qualification services, and access of energy efficiency projects to investors.
• The EN-TRACK platform obtained highly successful results towards its objective to become economically sustainable by ensuring funding from the Government of Catalonia until 2028 for adopting it as institutional platform for monitoring the energy and environmental performance of the public buildings in Catalonia. Moreover, the project concluded agreements with 10 other building owner organisations and 5 financial institutions for the use of its services (16 agreements in overall) which are a very good premise for its long-term economic sustainability.
The creation of “operational” databases supporting portfolio benchmarking has been addressed recently to certain extent by some tools and databases developed in Europe. However, due to lack of comparability and interoperability with other tools, it is difficult to achieve sufficient critical mass of data and users for successful commercial uptake of these tools. Achieving this comparability and interoperability is one of the puzzle pieces.
In parallel, large building portfolio owners such as Public Authorities and other large building owners, are responsible for a significant part of Europe’s building stock and already have the necessary energy and financial information to evaluate the performance of energy efficiency investments in their buildings. However, this information is dispersed and managed either in separate departments (O&M, Accounts, etc.) or by external providers, and data gathering is difficult. Facilitating the access to this information is another piece of the puzzle.
According to official sources, buildings in the EU are responsible for 40% of our energy consumption and roughly 75% of the EU building stock is energy inefficient. Renovation of buildings to improve energy efficiency is given a prominent role in the European Green Deal, as it can produce enormous social impact by reducing emissions, diminishing dependence on fossil fuels, and tackling poverty. However, a huge amount of investment needs to be mobilised in order to fulfil this prominent role. This is yet another puzzle piece.
The EN-TRACK project successfully contributed to overcoming the above challenges by solving each individual puzzle and also by working to ensure that all of the pieces fit together to bring closer the overall goal: making financing of energy retrofitting in buildings a mainstream activity in the financial sector.
The project achieved all of its main objectives:
• EN-TRACK developed a big data platform for gathering large-scale data on the actual performance of energy efficiency investments in buildings. The platform went public in July 2023 and engaged more than 130 public building portfolio managers from Spain and Bulgaria in continuous data collection, gathering data on the performance of more than 9,000 buildings and 21,000 energy efficiency measures.
• The platform offered services for performance monitoring and robust benchmarking of buildings and energy efficiency investments for decision support and de-risking of investments, addressing more than 300 financial institutions and directly involving 75 of them in the project activities.
• The EN-TRACK platform established interoperability with the currently most active databases and tools in Europe, enabling data exchange and joint services. EN-TRACK became one of the major contributors of data to the EEFIG-DEEP platform, with investments performance data for more than 4,200 buildings already submitted. It also developed and successfully demonstrated joint services with the eQuad platform, enabling data exchange, financial pre-qualification services, and access of energy efficiency projects to investors.
• The EN-TRACK platform obtained highly successful results towards its objective to become economically sustainable by ensuring funding from the Government of Catalonia until 2028 for adopting it as institutional platform for monitoring the energy and environmental performance of the public buildings in Catalonia. Moreover, the project concluded agreements with 10 other building owner organisations and 5 financial institutions for the use of its services (16 agreements in overall) which are a very good premise for its long-term economic sustainability.
The work in the project was successfully executed, with all major objectives achieved and all due deliverables submitted. The project contributed significantly to all expected impacts of the call topic. All quantitative KPIs were fulfilled and exceeded.
a. Technical highlights
- The overall platform architecture has been implemented and tested;
- The EN-TRACK common data model (aligned to DEEP and BEDES) has been developed, implemented, and tested with initial upload and harmonisation of data from tens of different data sources;
- The EN-TRACK services and Graphic User Interfaces have been defined, implemented and tested.
b. Exploitation/dissemination highlights
- Integrated services with third-party platforms defined and data exchange fields mapped (DEEP, eQuad, BEDES); 4293 buildings data provided to DEEP, 40 building projects financially pre-qualified with eQuad.
- Presentation in 29 events (~5000 stakeholders), 4 peer-review papers published, one PhD thesis > 300 financial institutions and >450 building owner stakeholder contacts reached
- Guidelines for achieving of data governance in building owner organisations delivered.
- Public deliverables published on open repository Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/communities/h2020-en-track/(opens in new window)
c. Collaborative highlight
- Synergies with 27 H2020 projects and initiatives developed;
- Joint workshops with the Triple-A and PROPEL projects organised;
- Active collaboration with DEEP, LBNL, and EEFIG members through the advisory board.
a. Technical highlights
- The overall platform architecture has been implemented and tested;
- The EN-TRACK common data model (aligned to DEEP and BEDES) has been developed, implemented, and tested with initial upload and harmonisation of data from tens of different data sources;
- The EN-TRACK services and Graphic User Interfaces have been defined, implemented and tested.
b. Exploitation/dissemination highlights
- Integrated services with third-party platforms defined and data exchange fields mapped (DEEP, eQuad, BEDES); 4293 buildings data provided to DEEP, 40 building projects financially pre-qualified with eQuad.
- Presentation in 29 events (~5000 stakeholders), 4 peer-review papers published, one PhD thesis > 300 financial institutions and >450 building owner stakeholder contacts reached
- Guidelines for achieving of data governance in building owner organisations delivered.
- Public deliverables published on open repository Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/communities/h2020-en-track/(opens in new window)
c. Collaborative highlight
- Synergies with 27 H2020 projects and initiatives developed;
- Joint workshops with the Triple-A and PROPEL projects organised;
- Active collaboration with DEEP, LBNL, and EEFIG members through the advisory board.
The project managed to develop and put into use a platform based on big data technologies enabling continuous collection of data on the performance of energy efficiency investments in buildings that is having several characteristics beyond the worldwide state of the art:
- A common and standards-based data model for storing information on the performance of energy efficiency investments in buildings aligned to DEEP and BEDES
- Specific indicators for tracking and benchmarking of investments’ performance covering energy, cost, and emissions aspects.
- Interoperability with a variety of data sources and third-party platforms.
The platform was extensively tested and promoted among the targeted stakeholders and contributed significantly to the expected impacts towards mainstreaming the energy efficiency financing.
- The EN-TRACK platform was launched at the pilot scale in July 2023 and managed to directly involve in its activities 75 financial institutions with estimated investment potential over 7,000 M€
- The project collected more than 20,000 energy efficiency measures applied in more than 9,000 buildings providing data evidence on the financial returns of the investments, exceeding the initial data collection targets by a factor of 4;
- EN-TRACK signed 16 agreements with stakeholder organisations for the use of the platform in the next years.
- The project activities and their indirect impacts is estimated to have contributed to 44.561 GWh primary energy savings, reducing 17,500 tCO2/year and triggering 22 M€ of sustainable energy investments.
- A common and standards-based data model for storing information on the performance of energy efficiency investments in buildings aligned to DEEP and BEDES
- Specific indicators for tracking and benchmarking of investments’ performance covering energy, cost, and emissions aspects.
- Interoperability with a variety of data sources and third-party platforms.
The platform was extensively tested and promoted among the targeted stakeholders and contributed significantly to the expected impacts towards mainstreaming the energy efficiency financing.
- The EN-TRACK platform was launched at the pilot scale in July 2023 and managed to directly involve in its activities 75 financial institutions with estimated investment potential over 7,000 M€
- The project collected more than 20,000 energy efficiency measures applied in more than 9,000 buildings providing data evidence on the financial returns of the investments, exceeding the initial data collection targets by a factor of 4;
- EN-TRACK signed 16 agreements with stakeholder organisations for the use of the platform in the next years.
- The project activities and their indirect impacts is estimated to have contributed to 44.561 GWh primary energy savings, reducing 17,500 tCO2/year and triggering 22 M€ of sustainable energy investments.