Pilot your hybrid energy efficiency and demand response offering with NOVICE and lower your internal development costs

Engineers by trade, energy efficiency project developers are ceaselessly innovative. More and more developers are looking to expand their offering from pure energy efficiency (EE) to EE combined with Demand Side Response (DSR), streamlined into one Energy Performance Contract (EPC), in order to maximize the revenue generated by a project and increase their competitive edge.  

The bad news – EPC is already complicated. Adding DSR to the mix from a technical, contractual, and commercial perspective is a harrowing task to take on and few project developers have the resources to do so. 

The good news – NOVICE, a 3-year H2020 project led by the International Energy Research Centre (IERC), is looking to crack this nut and support innovative developers in the process.   

So, what exactly is NOVICE?  

NOVICE looks to develop and demonstrate a new business model in building renovation that better monetizes energy efficiency by consolidating services and subsequent revenue streams from both energy savings and demand response.  

Combining energy efficiency with explicit demand response will ultimately shorten payback times and create a more attractive EPC offer for both end users and third-party financiers.  

The project is targeting the facilitation of €21m of investments in building renovations. It is estimated that such an investment could create primary energy savings greater than 25.2 GWh/year.  

Working on the ground enabling project developers to access finance, Joule has noted that spending a large amount now for a gradual return later is often a difficult sell to energy users. NOVICE is a good step towards making energy efficiency more attractive, since the business model offers a considerably shorter payback time. This in turn can help project developers close deals and boost attractiveness of their offering next to their competitors. 

Have a project? Pilot it with NOVICE 

When investments for energy efficiency in buildings are done in the NOVICE business model, using technologies which provide efficiency and flexibility, the buildings become efficient as well as smart. 

This in turn generates revenues by both energy savings and the provision of grid services. In reality, what we are seeing with the current energy transition is an abundance of opportunity to increase sustainable energy asset value, and to exploit business models like NOVICE. 

Joule Assets is a proud partner of NOVICE and our participation in this project comes in the form of various development work and providing input from the point of view of a financial institution, analysing financial mechanisms, the bankability of the new EPC template, and determining the NOVICE business model. As a financing facilitator, Joule will ensure that the resulting demonstration is available to every market participant and assure successful exploitation of end results. 

Our vision at Joule is to bridge the gap between projects and finance. Money should be an enabler, never a barrier when it comes to the growth of the green economy. NOVICE is fully in alignment with that vision, and indeed enables you as a project developer to grow by alleviating financial constraints. 

If you are a project developer looking to develop such an offering – please contact us and we will quickly review your project for applicability. We are still accepting pilot projects and will work with you every step of the way, sharing the consortium’s learnings and lowering your internal costs of development and accessing finance. 

You won’t have to go at it alone. 

Contact: 

Caroline Milne 
Director of Communications  
Joule Assets Europe 
cmilne@jouleassets.com