Energy efficiency continues to be the little sister of the energy transition in Spain today, despite its enormous potential to reduce emissions, because it is a resource greatly under-utilized by citizens, businesses and public administrations.
03/06/2019
Periodicodelaenergia.com
For this reason, the European Commission has reached an agreement with various financial institutions to facilitate the investment of up to 30 million euros over the next three years in energy efficiency projects in our country. This is the project “F-PI: Financing Energy Efficiency using Private Investments”, led by Deloitte, Ecomanagement Technology (ECOMT), Grup Cerveró and Anese (National Association of Energy Services Companies) and financed by the European Commission within the framework of the H2020.
The aim is to encourage the development of private investments in energy efficiency, sustainable mobility and self-consumption. “Any project is welcome, our mission is to study it, see its viability, its profitability and offer it to the entities that have committed to participate, in addition to providing technical assistance to these funding funds,” explains Adrián Devesa, Rick Advisory of Deloitte, “and we have 36 months to make it known throughout Spain.
The technical assistance consists of designing standardised processes to create and analyse project portfolios, facilitating and promoting contact between promoters and investors.
When it comes to energy efficiency the first thing that comes to mind are projects in buildings, but according to Miguel Angel Salido, general manager at Fusiona Soluciones Energéticas, during the presentation of the project, “there is life beyond building in terms of efficiency and savings. For example, in the primary sector there is a long way to go, it is a question of opportunities. The building sector is very broad and indeed a lot can be done, in addition, it is one of the most polluting in the global computation, but there are more options.
“The main market opportunities and sectors where they are going to bet are self-consumption, lighting, insulation, etc., almost all tertiary sector projects, but we have found demand in schools and we already have up to eight between universities and schools,” said Olivier Usureau, partner in Demeter, Capital investment for the energy transition, “The manager cannot get into debt because his budget depends on public funds and thanks to this system we have come to carry out projects of isolation, self-consumption, control of electricity consumption … Each project has cost about ten million of which one part we have put and the other has been bank debt.
“Financial institutions are very interested in participating and for this they rely on project partners such as energy service companies (ESCOs), and look for key parameters such as the reliability of the partner and the project and the profitability of the project,” Usureau added.
F-PI is designed so that developers, end customers and investors can see the advantages of making improvements to save on electricity bills, whether in homes, businesses, shopping centers, universities, primary sector and even infrastructure and from there, you can continue working on energy efficiency when you see its benefits by word of mouth.
Despite the fact that the draft National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030 (PNIEC) gives a lot of weight to the efficiency sector, it has not yet penetrated the population sufficiently and there is a lack of information on the possibilities that exist in the market.
“The PNIEC is very good because it includes many aspects of energy efficiency, but that’s all it is, a draft, we’ll have to wait for the European Union’s report and then we have to form a new Ministry,” said Luis Blanco Castellano, commercial director of Acciona Energy, “it’s very ambitious and I think it’s very good to be ambitious but we’ll have to see what is finally approved.
According to the PNIEC, in 2030 energy efficiency is expected to improve by 39.6% as a result of the application of the measures incorporated. Among these measures, priority is given to the energy rehabilitation of the existing building stock, thanks to an average annual rate of energy rehabilitation of 120,000 homes over the next decade. A renovation of the public buildings of any Administration of at least 3% per year is also promoted.
The text also speaks of public financing, which could be a competitor or ‘helper’ of private financing. It is said that public investment will amount to 11,622 million while 32,435 million of private investment will be mobilized. Public investment is articulated, among other mechanisms, through the State Housing Plan as well as through specific lines managed by the Institute for the Development of Housing.
“There is a lot of money and although for the moment there are few projects we hope that the F-PI is only the beginning,” concluded Jorge Saenz de Miera, director of DB Credit at Deutsche Bank, “the idea of the project is to complement all actions that are carried out from the public sphere.
Jiménez de Luna offered these data at the third Blue Energy Lab meeting, organised today in Cadiz by the Andalusian Maritime-Marine Cluster (CMMA) to analyse the possibilities offered by the sea in the development of energies.
In his speech, the Managing Director of the Andalusian Energy Agency highlighted the role that Andalusia can play in the face of the challenge of “decarbonisation of the economy in record time”, as the community “has the resources to supply not only its own needs, but also those of Spain and part of Europe.
For this, “we need a lot of evacuation network to export this energy, which we intend to cover almost 45% of national objectives in 2030.
The rector of the University of Cadiz, Eduardo Gonzalez Mazo, stressed that the geographical situation of Andalusia has “very important opportunities for sustainable development,” especially the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean and the Atlantic converge and there are “really important internal currents. EFE
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