Abstract

A recent survey of energy service companies (ESCOs) in the EU-25 has indicated that the ESCO industry is still in its infancy stage and that major differences exist in the development of the ESCO business among the various countries. With a few notable exceptions, such as Germany, Austria, and Hungary and to certain extent France, ESCO industries are still struggling to get off the ground. Major differences exist among Member States not only in the development of national ESCO industries, but also in terms of actual type of ESCO projects (sectors, sizes, etc.) and their implementation (contractual terms, financing, etc.).

The present paper builds on and summarizes the first results of an ongoing in-depth survey of ESCO businesses in Europe (EU-25 plus candidate countries and selected neighbouring countries) and analyses a selection of ESCO projects, both ongoing and completed. The paper has three major parts. First, we review the most common types of companies providing energy services in Europe. Second, we discuss ESCO project specifics, such as the most widespread types of projects, preferred end-use technologies, sectors that receive most of the project developers' attention, most 'appealing' categories of clients and most common financing sources. Finally, we summarize on a country-by-country basis the features of the ESCO industry in selected EU Member States and candidate countries.

Paper

Download this paper as pdf: Paper

Panels of

Panel 2. Making buildings more energy efficient

Panel 1. Strategies and integrated policies

Panel 3. Sustainable transport and land use

Panel 4. Market transformation

Panel 5. Evaluation and monitoring

Panel 6. Dynamics of consumption

Panel 7. New economic instruments