REFINE – Mainstreaming of refinancing schemes as enhancer for the implementation of energy efficiency service projects

Project partners

• e7 Energie Markt Analyse GmbH (Coordinator), Austria
• BANKIA SA, Spain
• CREARA Consultores SL, Spain
• REGEA North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency, Croatia
• SEVEn, The Energy Efficiency Center, Czech Republic
• Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving Foundation, CRES, Greece
• Institute Jozef Stefan, IJS, Slovenia
• Carr Communications Limited - Carr Comm, Ireland
• FEDERESCO, Italy
• Funds for Future, Netherlands
• International Non-Government Organization Housing and Municipal Reform Support Centre, Ukraine

Project description

e7 leads a consortium consisting of 11 partner organizations for the implementation of the REFINE project financed by the EU-program Horizon 2020.

The ultimate goal of the REFINE-project is to contribute to the supply of sufficient and attractive financing sources for investments into energy savings and related measures. This will be achieved through enhancement and mainstreaming of refinancing schemes for energy efficiency services (EES) which are understood as important amplifier of market growth. Refinancing in this context contains all kinds of financing models that enable EES providers to clean up their balance sheet, thus gaining financial leeway for new projects. In many cases, in these models an EES provider sells and a refinancing institution acquires receivables to be paid by an EES client.

The focus of the REFINE-project is on mainstreaming, standardizing and disseminating existing approaches, which are already successfully applied in certain countries and contexts, in order to amplify the actual use of refinancing schemes in EES business practice. By this means, transaction cost and risks connected to financing of EES projects are reduced, leading to an easier collaboration between EES providers, EES clients and financial institutions, including thematic investment funds active in green financing.

The work program of the project includes the following main elements:

• Implementation of a thorough analysis of good practice refinancing schemes in EES business in the European Union and beyond;
• Derivation of generic refinancing schemes and of supporting tools and services for and amplified use of refinancing schemes in EES business, in particular: Standardisation of contract stipulations that ensure refinanceability of EES contracts; Development of rating system for easy assessment of refinanceability;
• Adaptation of guarantee instruments (e.g. credit insurance, state-backed credit guarantees) that may be used to cover (a part of) the credit risk in EES projects, for application in refinancing schemes;
• Implementation of pilot application of the developed instruments and tools in real-life EES projects in close cooperation with the involved financial institutions;
• Addressing financial institutions that have already developed their business strategy towards green and sustainable finance to provide a more profound knowledge on EES in general and the opportunities related to purchase of receivables from EES projects in particular;
• Capacity building to EES providers with the aim to guide them through the application of refinancing schemes;
• Proactively network with key actors and projects related to the topics of (re)financing and EES to promote project results.