Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
whole duration of the contract. If the energy service contract is awarded by a
public entity to an ESCO according to the Authority for the Supervision of the
Public Contracts of Works, Services and Supplies (resolution AVPC No. 37/2012)
this falls into the category of ''composite contract''.
The Italian legislator has defined both the energy service contract
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(which is
the contract which establishes the supply of goods and services necessary to
maintain the comfort in the buildings in compliance with the laws on the rational
use of energy, on safety and environmental preservation, and which improves the
procedure of transformation and use of energy) and the EPC (which is the acronym
for energy performance contract
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as the agreement between the beneficiary and
the supplier of an energy efficient improvement measure where investments in that
measure are paid for in relation to the agreed level of energy efficiency
improvement) and which would let the ESCO be paid out by both the savings and
incentives generated by the energy efficient interventions and renewable energy
projects. The scope of the energy performance contract is the engineering, reali-
zation and operation of an energy efficient intervention which reduces the energy
consumption. In conclusion the ESCOs offer the diagnosis, the project, the
intervention for the increase of energy efficiency and the management of the
intervention at no cost to the client (both a public entity client and a private client).
Under the EPC the technical risk is on the ESCO and if the ESCO offers to finance
the energy efficiency intervention under the third-party financing scheme (please
see
below),
it is
also
exposed to
the
financial
risk
of
the
energy efficient
interventions.
According to the third-party financing scheme in order to promote the invest-
ments in the energy efficiency a third party (which is different from the energy
supplier and from the beneficiary of the energy improvement measure, but can be
an ESCO or a bank) may provide the capital for the energy investment and may be
repaid by charging a fee equivalent to a part of the energy savings achieved as a
result of the energy efficiency improvement measure.
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In the event that the ESCO
finances the energy efficiency investments, it needs to obtain enough financial
resources from its shareholders (for instance by means of agreements under which
the shareholders undertake to contribute additional equity if necessary) and from
banks which will assess the bankability of the ESCO on the basis of the project
(i.e. the energy efficient intervention for which the ESCO needs additional
resources) and on the basis of the guarantees which the ESCO and its shareholders
may offer. Amongst the guarantees which the ESCO and its shareholders may
create in favor of the bank lending to the ESCO, it is worth mentioning the pledge
over the shares of the ESCO, the pledge over the bank accounts of the ESCO
(where any incentive of the conto termico may be paid into), the guarantee over
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Article 16, paragraph 4 of legislative decree No. 115/2008.
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Article 2, letter (l) of legislative decree No. 115/2008 defines the contratto di rendimento
energetico.
12
Please see article 3, letter (k) of directive No. 2006/32/EC.
