New JRC report: One-stop-shops for energy renovations of buildings

(eceee news, 15 Feb 2019) A new report from the European Commission, Joint Research Center (JRC) named One-stop-shops for energy renovations of buildings reviews case studies of past and current one-stop-shops (OSS) in EU Member States.

The European Commission has identified working models, to assess the framework conditions in which OSS are successful and the benefits for clients, economy and energy efficiency improvement of buildings.

One-stop shops should lead to more locally-developed project pipelines and strong partnerships with local actors (e.g. SMEs, financial institutions, and energy agencies), the EU Commission argues. The key is to connect the supply of finance with demand for it.

According to the EU Commission, OSS services are effective because the OSS:

  • is local;
  • accelerates building refurbishments by informing, motivating, as well as by assisting building owners to follow through energy efficiency investments, by standing beside them from the start to the end;
  • can facilitate interested, but not yet committed energy users/asset owners to actually implement an energy saving or other type of sustainable project;
  • can ease access to financing and occasionally offer better rates;
  • can be one of the tools to increase the renovation rate,
  • can also improve the average renovation depth in terms of energy performance, because an OSS walks through the full renovation route.

A second report will follow in early 2019, and complement it with a deeper analytical assessment of the role of OSS in the energy efficiency market, and in the energy system policy framework.

One-stop-shops have been advocated by the European Commission through the “Smart financing for smart buildings” initiative and through the amended Directive for on the energy performance of buildings EPBD (2018/844/EU).

According to the Directive, “Member States are required to facilitate access to appropriate mechanisms for accessible and transparent advisory tools, such as one-stop-shops for consumers and energy advisory services, on relevant energy efficiency renovations and financing instruments.”

The development and replication of one-stop-shops will be supported by an exchange of good practices through Manag'Energy, funding through Horizon 2020, the EU Project Development Assistance facilities, or funding from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF).

The report can be downloaded here.