Accelerating industrial energy efficiency investments

Panel: 5. Business models and financing: established practice and innovative approaches

Authors:
Céline Tougeron, EASME (Executive Agency for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises), Belgium
Sergio Ferreira, EASME (Executive Agency for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises), Belgium
Stamatis Sivitos, EASME (Executive Agency for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises), Belgium
Bjorn Zappel, EASME (Executive Agency for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises), Belgium

Abstract

The industry sector is one of the biggest energy consumers in the EU. Market forces have long driven its energy intensity down as a need to keep and improve a competitive edge. However, much of the energy savings potential in the sector remains untapped. One significant obstacle is the lack of strategic prioritisation for energy efficiency (EE) which, together with a lack of knowledge and experience on the energy saving potential, downplays investments in this area.

Since 2003, the EU Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) programme has supported 46 projects with a budget of over 57 million euro, in an attempt to bridge this knowledge gap. Notable progress was made across industrial sectors and success stories arose from establishing voluntary agreements and benchmarks, organising trainings, implementing Energy Management Schemes and energy audits. Despite these achievements, opportunities working towards the EU's 2020 energy saving target remain. Although technology continuously improves, EE in industry still misses traction and the need to bring operational and financial actors closer together is more and more apparent, as underpinned by the report of the EE Financial Institutions Group (EEFIG).

Under the Horizon 2020 programme (H2020), a new round of projects comes to pave the way towards innovative financing approaches and develop new concepts that support and enhance access to public and private funding for further uptake of EE in industry. Can solutions identified during energy audits actually be implemented? Could the development of participatory approach solutions, the creation of Energy Angels Networks, the setup of dedicated EE investment funds, the development of tools to standardise and valuate investments or the establishment of financing platforms be the backing industry needs to access financing and deliver its energy savings potential?

For the first time, this presentation will address these issues by analysing projects supported by both IEE and H2020.