Energy effiency networks for small and medium sized enterprises – bosting the energy efficiency potential by joining forces

Panel: 1. Policies and programmes

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Albin Carlén, Svenska Kraftnät, Sweden
Patrik Thollander, Linkoping University, Sweden
Svetlana Paramonova, Linkoping University, Sweden
Susana Municio, Chalmers Industriteknik, Sweden
Marie Rosenqvist, Swedish Energy Agency, Sweden

Abstract

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a cornerstone in individual economies. In terms of improved energy efficiency potentials, the relative potential for SMEs is larger than for energy-intensive companies. However, the level of deployment, remains low among industrial SMEs. This is due to various barriers such as lack of information and high transaction costs in general. The most common policy activity towards industrial SMEs is energy audit policy programs. Deployment levels from the Swedish energy audit program is roughly 50 percent of the detected cost-effective energy efficiency measures, which goes in line with results from the world’s largest program, the American IAC (Industrial Assessment Center). In order to enhance deployment levels, the Swedish Energy Agency has recently started up a national energy efficiency network program for SMEs, funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The aim of this paper is to present an ex-ante evaluation of the Swedish energy efficiency networks (EENet). The paper adds value to the growing scientific literature on energy efficiency network policy evaluation in order to further enhance scientific knowledge on energy efficiency network operationalization and evaluation. Including costs for the program administration, the subsidy effectiveness varied between 1.75 and 2.03 kWh/SEK for the different analyzed scenarios. The outcome of the paper results was that the Swedish Energy Agency reduced threshold for participation in the EENet from 2 GWh/year to 1 GWh/year in annual energy use.