BERLIN

Berlin Energy Saving Partnerships

Program Authority:

City of Berlin

Program Delivery Unit :

Berliner Energy Agency (BEA)

Summary

The Federal state of Berlin in partnership with Berlin Energy Agency (BEA) has initiated in 1996 the “Energy Savings Partnerships” for improving energy efficiency in public buildings in Berlin. They project manage the retrofit of public and private buildings, preparing tenders for works that will guarantee reductions in energy consumptions of an average of 26% based on Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) with the private ESCO sector (Energy Services Companies). In this program, BEA acts as project marketer, aggregator and facilitator, as well as financial advisor for the beneficiaries of the program (federal and local authorities).

So far 1.400 buildings have been upgraded or retrofitted, delivering CO2 reductions of more than 70,000 tonnes per year.

As the programme is based on EPC with guaranteed savings and as the majority of these energy retrofits investment are being reimbursed to the ESCO from the majority of the energy savings there is no additional cost for the property owner.

The retrofit comes at no additional cost to the property owner as the idea is that the majority of the guaranteed energy savings is being used to the reimbursement of the investment to the ESCO, and that a small portion of the energy savings is being kept by the property owners as immediate savings on their energy bills.

Documents

Berlin EN [1]

Berlín ES [2]

Берлин BG [3]

Berlin FR [4]

Overview

Ownership:

Public-Private [5]

Implementation Model:

Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) [6]

Operating Services:

Marketing [7]

Aggregation [8]

Facilitation [9]

Financial Advisory [10]

Assessment [11]

Type of Project:

Energy Efficiency (building retrofits) [12]

Renewable Energy [13]

Ambition/Targets:

Up to 35% reduction of energy consumption [14]

Benificiaries:

Public Sector [15]

Commercial Sector [16]

Funding Vehicle:

Financial Institutions [17]

ESCOs [18]

Property Owner [19]

Financial Instruments:

Equity/Own funds [20]

Loans [21]

Grants [22]

EPC financing [23]

Scalability of the Model:

High [24]

Development Maturity:

Mature [25]

Financing Model

Model Description

How does it work?

The Federal state of Berlin, through the Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment, initiates the Energy Saving Partnerships between building owners – typically various Berlin district administrations – and the ESCOs. The property owners agree to establish an EPC-tender process for retrofitting their building to cut back on energy consumption.
BEA then acts as the independent project manager, facilitating and managing the process from baseline to contract negotiation. BEA plays also the role of projects aggregator, bringing together a number of buildings, from 4 to as many as 150. These pools then issue EPC-tenders.
The selected ESCOs installs the guaranteed energy efficiency measures and pay for this retrofit upfront. The property owners reimburse the investments done by the ESCO over an agreed period – usually 8 to 12 years- in annual instalments from the energy savings. Typically around 80% of the annual savings are paid to the ESCO. Once the contract has come to term, the property owner benefits from the full energy savings.
As financial advisor, BEA assists both the property owners and the ESCOs to decide on the reimbursement terms of the investments supported by the ESCO. Funding of the investments is made in a classical way through bank loans taken either by the ESCO or by the property owner.
BEA is able to offer its services to the property owners with a considerable discount (50%) as a result of the joint 50/50 funding (grant) from the Senate.

Organization and Partnerships

Federal State of Berlin through the Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment: takes political decisions, initiates the program, assigns the program delivery unit, supports the cost of the program delivery unit via grants.

Berlin Energy Agency (BEA): developed the staff, procedures, tools and services for the program. It offers program delivery unit services such as programme marketing, project facilitation, projects aggregation, and financial advice.

Local partner banks: contribute to the program funding through loans.

Beneficiaries

Beneficiaries:

Local authorities
Health care sector
SME’s & Businesses

Operational Support:

Projects facilitation through the program delivery unit

Financial Support:

Projects facilitation costs free of charge

Program Delivery Unit

BEA (Berlin Energy Agency) is the program delivery unit under assignment of the Federal State of Berlin and acts as marketer, projects facilitator, projects aggregator and financial advisor for the beneficiaries (property owners).

BEA is a public/private partnership between the government of the federal state of Berlin, the governmental development bank KfW Bankengruppe and private stakeholders.

BEA operates as an energy services company in Germany and internationally. In Germany and abroad, BEA prepares energy concepts, provides project management and advice on the implementation of innovative energy service models in buildings (e.g. Energy Savings Partnerships in more than 1,400 public buildings in Berlin) and promotes the use of renewable energies. It also assists in the implementation of modern energy management. Furthermore, its scope of business includes awareness raising and information campaigns targeting end users, decision makers and multipliers.

Program Delivery Unit Box

Legal Structure:

GmbH Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (Limited Liability Company)

Equity:

2 560 000.00€

Shareholders:

Federal State of Berlin (25%) - Public Vattenfall Europe Wärme AG (25%) – Private GASAG Berliner Gaswerke AG (25%) - Private

Staff Requirements:

Less than 10 full time employee [26]

Operational Costs:

Less than 10 million EUR [27]

Impact on Public Balance Sheet:

Moderate [28]

Financial Details

Funding Mechanism

Delivery Unit Funding:

BEA is being funded by the shareholders. The program delivery unit operational costs are funded by grants from the State and District Municipals Government

Projects Funding:

Projects are being funded by loans taken either by the ESCOs or the Property owner. In some cases, the Property owner is funding projects on equity/own funds.

Results

So far, 26 projects have been realised by end of 2013 covering 1.400 buildings with a global investment of 53,0M €. The projects have led to total guaranteed savings of around EUR 11,9M € or 26% of the energy bills.

Contacts

Berliner Energieagentur GmbH

Französische Str. 23
10117 Berlin

Telephone:

+49 (0) 30/29 33 30 - 0

Fax:

+49 (0) 30/29 33 30 - 99

E-Mail:

office@berliner-e-agentur.de [29]

Sources

http://www.berliner-e-agentur.de/ [30]
Berger Susanne, Energy Saving Partnership Berlin. Best Practice Examples and Future Developments, International Conference “Climate protection potential of energy efficiency”, 09 November 2011
Berger Susanne, Energy Saving Partnership Berlin. Supporting ESCO markets on a regional basis, FINANCING RETROFIT: Public Sector, Dublin, 27 May 2011
Blaschke Christoph, The facilitation approach and the best practice implementation cases in Europe, Seminar on “Facilitation Approach for ESCO Projects Bangkok, 26 June 2014
Geissler Michael, Energy Performance Contracting – The Example of Berlin and EU-wide Experiences, 26 November 2013
Hesse Daniel, Looking into different approaches for ESCO development. The example of Germany., PowerPoint, 08 May 2015
Schlopsnies Udo, Berlin’s Energy Saving Partnership a Model of Success, 05 November 2009
Waldmann Alexandra, An Innovative Energy Efficiency Program that Costs Building Owners Zero, Drives Down CO2, and Generates Immediate Savings, C40 Large Cities Climate Summit, New York City, May 14-17,2007
Berlin Energy Agency Brochure, Image brochure of the Berliner Energieagentur GmbH, published by Berliner Energieagentur GmbH

Links
[1] http://citynvest.eu/content/berlin-energy-saving-partnerships
[2] http://citynvest.eu/content/consorcios-de-ahorro-energ%C3%A9tico-en-berl%C3%ADn
[3] http://citynvest.eu/content/%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D0%BD%D1%8C%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B0-%D0%B7%D0%B0-%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8F%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B5-%E2%80%93-%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD
[4] http://citynvest.eu/content/%C3%A9nergies-renouvelables-et-efficacit%C3%A9-%C3%A9nerg%C3%A9tique-de-la-diputaci%C3%B3n-de-barcelone-rediba
[5] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix/public-private
[6] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-implementation-model/energy-performance-contracting-epc
[7] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-operating-services/marketing
[8] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-operating-services/aggregation
[9] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-operating-services/facilitation
[10] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-operating-services/financial-advisory
[11] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-operating-services/assessment
[12] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-type-project-financed/energy-efficiency-building-retrofits
[13] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-type-project-financed/renewable-energy
[14] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-ambitionperimeter/market-based
[15] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-end-customer-categories/public-buildings
[16] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-end-customer-categories/public-lighting
[17] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-funding-vehicle/financial-institutions
[18] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-funding-vehicle/escos
[19] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-funding-vehicle/property-owner
[20] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-financial-instruments/equityown-funds
[21] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-financial-instruments/loans
[22] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-financial-instruments/grants
[23] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-financial-instruments/epc-financing
[24] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-time-market/high
[25] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-level-establishment/mature
[26] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-staff-requirements/less-10-full-time-employee
[27] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-set-costs/medium
[28] http://www.citynvest.eu/matrix-impact-public-balance-sheet/moderate
[29] mailto:office@berliner-e-agentur.de
[30] http://www.berliner-e-agentur.de/