Deadline: 12-Jan-22
The European Commission (EC) is pleased to announce the Uptake of energy audits recommendations for the energy transition of companies to support and accelerate the transition of EU companies towards a sustainable growth model.
Objective: The key objective of this topic is to increase the uptake of such measures in companies using a holistic approach. In fact, several factors can explain why the implementation of audit recommendations remains insufficient, e.g. the unavailability of human resources to work on energy and their lack of knowledge on how to gather energy-related information and introduce new solutions. When considering investments, obstacles include the uncertainty on actual energy savings that will be achieved, long payback times, difficulty to access to finance (internal or external) and limited public incentives. Moreover, the multiple benefits of energy efficiency are often underestimated, especially by smaller and non-energy-intensive companies.
Scope
Proposals should implement tailor-made support activities covering the whole process from energy audit to implementation of measures, and potentially beyond, leading to a significant increase in the rate of concrete implementation of audit recommendations.
Depending on the readiness level of the targeted companies, proposals may deliver operational support directly to companies as a service, or tailored capacity building and advisory to company staff (both at management and operational level), provided that activities lead to the actual implementation of the recommended measures.
Support to companies could include:
- Energy scans and detailed energy audits, based on sector-specific benchmarks
- Analysis and evaluation of the multiple benefits of energy efficiency (resource efficiency, comfort, health, productivity, staff satisfaction, reputation, etc.)
- Formulation of the strategic value for management (risk mitigation, link to company core business and to environmental, social, and corporate governance)
- Support in managing the engineering phase
- Matchmaking with finance in terms of public grants but also bank loans and potentially private investors
Support to company staff (technical services, top management, financial departments) could include capacity building and advisory, for example on:
- Enhancement of corporate culture at all levels towards greener objectives
- Change management and re-organisation
- Embedding sustainable energy into the corporate communication strategy
- Promoting the use of digital solutions, including EMSs based on ISO, in order to achieve higher efficiency, more precision on data of consumption/savings, and better preparation for the uptake of demand/response services
Other activities at the sector / territory level may include the following, provided they are instrumental to the uptake of energy audit recommendations:
- Surveys and benchmarking to identify target companies
- Aggregation of individual companies / measures to reach a critical size and make them more attractive to Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and private financiers
- Standardisation of processes and documentation from the technical and financial point of view
- Capacity building for all actors involved internally and/or externally
Funding Information
- Grants available up to EUR 5 500 000.
Expected Impact
Proposals are expected to demonstrate the impacts listed below:
- Increased rate of transformation of energy audits into concrete measure implementation
- Number of companies benefitting from direct support
- Number of energy audits carried out within the project
- Number of company staff with improved skills/knowledge
- Number of energy auditors / other stakeholders with improved skills / knowledge
- Contribution to a better implementation of Art of the EED
- Primary energy savings triggered by the project
- Renewable energy generation triggered by the project
- Investments in sustainable energy triggered by the project
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
- be legal entities (public or private bodies)
- be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)
- non-EU countries: EEA countries and countries associated to the LIFE Programme (participating countries) or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature
- the coordinator must be established in an eligible country.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2WO2x7u