Quality Certification Framework for Energy Efficiency Services

Project partner

• e7 Energie Markt Analyse GmbH (Coordinator), Austria
• European Federation of Intelligent Energy Efficiency Services (EFIEES), Belgium
• EEVS Insight, UK
• Institute Jozef Stefan, IJS, Slovenia
• Working Group ASEW c/o VKU, Germany
• Kentro Ananeosimon Pigon ke Exoikonomisis Energeias (Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving), CRES, Greece
• Ekodoma, Latvia
• Energy Center Bratislava, Slovakia
• CREARA Consultores SL, Spain
• SEVEn, The Energy Efficiency Center, Czech Republic
• Factor4 BVBA, Belgium
• Sdruzhenie Chernomorski Izledovatelski Energies Tsentar, BSERC, Bulgaria

European advisory board

• Energetic Solutions, AT
• EFIEES, BE
• Econoler, Canada
• IFC / World Bank
• SUSI Partners AG, CH
• CEN / CENELEC Netherlands Standardization Institute (NEN)

Project description

e7 led a consortium with 12 partner organizations for the QualitEE project funded by the EU Horizon 2020 program. It aimed to increase responsible investment in energy efficiency services in the building sector in the EU and to increase confidence in service providers.

Although investors and financial institutions are increasingly looking for sustainable investment opportunities, they are often reluctant to invest in energy efficiency services due to a number of remaining barriers. Additionally, the fragmentation and heterogeneity of the energy efficiency service markets make it difficult for clients to differ between "good quality" and "bad quality" services. Therefore, current discussions underline that standardisation of energy efficiency services is necessary to boost demand and access competitive capital from financial markets.
The overall objectives of the QualitEE project were to scale up responsible investment in energy efficiency services in the building sector, increase the trust of clients and financial institutions in energy service providers, thereby reducing the complexity of energy efficiency services as well as taking major steps towards standardisation. The outcome of QualitEE is:

• Market surveys on the development of Energy Performance Contracting and Energy Supply Contracting markets served as source of data for 15 country reports on the EES market and quality development
• Guidelines of European technical quality criteria for Energy Efficiency Services were established for a common understanding between all market actors for the assessment of the quality of energy efficiency projects
• Financial guidelines intend to facilitate the communication between financial institutions, energy service companies and clients helping them to select EES projects eligible for external financing
• The procurement handbook for energy efficiency services provides guidance to encourage the application of quality criteria within the procurement phase of a project and thus increases the quality of the projects.
• 28 pilot projects in 11 European countries tested the technical quality criteria and giving continuous feedback
• Training modules have been developed to share knowledge about energy efficiency services, and evaluation of their technical and financial quality
• National quality assurance schemes for energy efficiency services were developed with different approaches due to the market situation in the participating countries.