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Energy Performance Contracting Seminar held in Dublin

07th November, 2013

Codema held an Energy Performance Contracts Information Seminar for local authorities on Thursday 7 November in the Dublin Docklands as part of the European Energy Services Initiative (EESI) 2020 project. The participants included local authority officials, members of Sustainable Energy Agency Ireland (SEAI), Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and representatives from each of the international partners on the EESI 2020 project. The seminar was opened by Dublin City Manager, Owen Keegan, and included presentations from Sabine Pillar, Berliner Energieagentur GmbH (BEA), Stjohn O’Connor from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR) and Joe Hayden, Executive Engineer with Codema.

In his opening remarks, the Dublin City Manager summarised the key questions for local authorities considering the use of EPCs:

  1. How can energy saving projects be implemented without sacrificing value for money?
  2. Will the cost of transferring risk prove unfeasible?
  3. Do local authorities such as Dublin City Council (DCC), have the skills and expertise to manage contracts such as EPCs?
  4. How important is scale in bringing about projects?
  5. Is the market for providing EPCs sufficiently developed to provide real value for money?

The attendees heard how EPCs can provide substantial energy savings by working on the principle of repaying investment in energy efficiency from the cost savings made.  Project Leader, Joe Hayden, explained:  “In simple terms, EPC adds energy performance criteria to the standard contract for energy services which has a significant impact on financing and risk.  EPC can be best summed up as offering an alternative source of finance for efficient energy services at a reduced performance to the user.”

The seminar gave local authorities an opportunity to get to grips with the practical implications of EPC, drawing on the experiences of other European cities, and to learn about the supports available for introducing EPC in Ireland.

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