This document summarizes a European Union-funded project called EPC+ that aims to promote energy performance contracting (EPC) through SME partnerships. The 3-year project involves 13 partners across Europe and has a budget of 1.5 million Euro. It will establish SME partnerships in each country, train them on joint energy service provision, develop standardized EPC contract packages, implement pilot projects using these packages, and create an exchange platform for knowledge sharing between the partnerships. The overall goal is to help more SMEs offer energy efficiency services using the EPC model.

1. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
HORIZON 2020
ENERGY PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING PLUS
(EPC+)
01/03/2015 – 01/03/2018
Aristotelis Botzios-Valaskakis
Centre for Renewable Energy Sources

2. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
• CRES is the coordinator of the project
• Total project budget is 1.5 million Euro
• Thirteen partners from the following countries:
• 4 Southeast Europe (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain)
• 1 Western Europe (Ireland)
• 3 Central Europe (Belgium, Austria, Germany)
• 3 Eastern Europe (Slovenia, Czech R., Bulgaria)

3. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
The main aim of the project is to promote and stimulate
SME networking for the provision of energy services with
EPC.
Target group on supply side: SME energy service providers
Target group on demand side: Private sector (tertiary
sector, industrial sector)

4. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
PUBLIC
SECTOR
EPC ESC
Greece - -
Bulgaria
300 municipal buildings
10 – 20 for other public
buildings
10 projects with biomass boilers
Spain
3 public buildings
9 street lighting
6 contracts under deliberation
20 schools
10 hospitals
3 sports centres
Portugal Tender for 300 buildings A few CHP projects
Ireland 6 contracts under deliberation Many projects with biomass boilers
Italy - -
Belgium 21 public buildings -
Germany Few contracts Numerous contracts
Slovenia
3 public buildings
3 street lighting projects
20 projects (CHP, district heating,
boiler replacement)
Current situation in the public sector

5. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
PRIVATE
SECTOR
EPC ESC
Greece
- 2 solar thermal projects
A few PV projects
Bulgaria - -
Spain
A few HVAC projects 5 CHP
10 projects (biomass and solar thermal
in hotels)
3 solar thermal projects
Portugal - CHP projects
Ireland
- Heating with biomass
CHP
Italy - -
Belgium - CHP
Germany Few contracts Numerous contracts
Slovenia - -
Current situation in the private, tertiary sector

6. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
RESIDENTIAL
SECTOR
EPC ESC
Greece - -
Bulgaria - -
Spain
- 10 solar thermal
Many contracts (heating with biomass)
Portugal - -
Ireland - -
Italy - -
Belgium - -
Germany - -
Slovenia - -
Current situation in the residential sector

7. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
Main difficulties in implementing EPC (in the public and private)
sectors:
• The implementation can be complicated and lengthy. The reason lies -
among other things - in the procurement law provisions (tendering processes)
and long-term and complex contracts, which impede a real breakthrough in the
spread of the EPC methodology in both the public and private sector.
Barriers for the implementation of EPC in SME’s are:
• The transaction costs for procuring energy services are too high (i.e. range of
technical expertise required, cost of energy auditing and determination of case-
specific contracting issues to account for all eventualities)
• High costs for guarantees, measurement and verification procedures
• Investments and project sizes are too small. It is therefore difficult to obtain
financing for such small projects (either because of the unwillingness of the
financial institution or due to a lack of knowledge of the employees of the
financial institution in assessing the techno-economic feasibility of the proposed
project).
• Competition from ESC.

8. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
EPC+ PHASE 1: ESTABLISHMENT OF SPINS IN EACH COUNTRY
A SPIN (SME Partnerships for Innovative Energy Services) is an
organized cluster of SME's of differing areas of expertise, that jointly
supply energy efficiency services and have a structured long-term
collaboration with commonly agreed objectives.
The project will develop the following:
• Procedures and legalities on how to share risks between the partners
•Rules for acquisition of IP ('Intellectual property').
• Roles of partners in the SPIN, including the protection of the role of
each partner
• Set-up of contractual arrangement: bilateral contracts or multilateral
contracts
• How to deal with incoming/outgoing partners (i.e. Admission rules,
Drop-out rules, How to integrate a new partner)
• Development of organisational tools (i.e. contractual relationships; how to solve core
topics/problems).
The SPINS should have at least 3 members. Each participant country already
has a SPIN but will be looking to create more.

9. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
EPC+ PHASE 2: TRAINING OF SPINS
This will be focused on the organisational aspects of the SPIN:
• Working as a consortium, partner agreements and dispute resolution
• Using clientele of each SME to identify potential projects.
• Utilizing standard model contracts (developed within EPC+ project)
• Seeking financing and convincing.
One training workshop for the SPINs in each country. The video of the training
course will be uploaded to the internet and available to all.

10. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
EPC+ PHASE 3: ELABORATION OF EPC+ PACKAGES
The elaboration of standardized, simple service-oriented model energy
performance contracts for specific energy efficient technical solutions.
Measures with simplified measurement and verification procedures and short
payback periods.
Financial modules (i.e. contract articles) for all types of possible financing will
be elaborated (i.e. TPF, self-financing, ESCO fund etc.).
The high standardization opens the basis for new and broader fields of EPC
Projects (multiplying standardized EPC+ solutions in specific market sectors
instead of a few big standard EPC-projects).
EPC+ packages in each participant-country language

11. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
EPC+ PHASE 4: IMPLEMENTATION OF PILOT PROJECTS

12. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
EPC+ PHASE 5: TRANSNATIONAL EXCHANGE PLATFORM
Individual SME's hesitate transferring their innovative know-how, mainly
because of the high development costs behind this know-how (amounting to
sometimes ten thousands of euro's) and the risk that at the end their national
competitors will finally obtain the know-how and start to compete with them on
their home market using the leaked know-how.
Development of a business plan for an exchange platform for transfer of
knowledge via:
• payment
• expert-hours sharing
• other?

13. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649666.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the
European Commission is responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
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