MLEI 2020TOGETHER: Public buildings and lighting

Location: Metropolitan City of Turin, Piemonte (Italy)

Population: 875,698 [Metropolitan area]

Climate: Humid subtropical

Duration: April 2014 – December 2016 (completed)

Sector: Public building and lighting

Funding sources: EU

City networks: Covenant of Mayors

Savings: 38% reduction of energy consumption and CO2 emission by 2020.

Solutions: Creation of measurements to improve the energy efficiency of buildings and public lighting of the municipalities within the Metropolitan City of Turin.

Multiple benefits: Generation of business and job places opportunities

2020TOGETHER – through aggregation, participatory process, and joint tendering procedure – created a frontrunner model for multileveled coordination in the energy sector.

Objective – To start a coordinated action involving regional, provincial and local authorities, financial institutions and local industries/investors and to launch an investment program based on Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and Third Party Investment (TPI).

Solutions – The scheme developed for MLEI 2020TOGETHER includes: energy audits and business cases for investment projects; stakeholders and enterprise training; contracts scheme and incentives integration; tenders launch and planned intervention implementation.

Funding – The funding, amounting to EUR 487,956, was provided by the EU as part of the CIP – IEE, Intelligent Energy for Europe / Mobilizing Local Energy Investments – MLEI program.

Innovation – This is the first multileveled coordination model for the energy sector in the Piedmont region (Italy). The innovation consists also of the underwriting of Energy Performance Contracts (EPC) and the implementation of new forms of financial partnership between local public administrations and private investors –ESCo (Energy Service Company).

Success factors – A wide territory, the Metropolitan City of Torino, acts as a coordinator and contracting authority: the initiatives of individual local public administrations are grouped in a single call for tender to form that critical mass required to make tenders appealing and realize economies of scale.

Significant outcomes:

• 59 buildings renovated (to be expanded);
• 1,272 street lighting retrofitted (to be expanded);
• CO2 emissions avoided 4360 tons [source];
• Primary energy saved 22050 MWh [source];
• Renewable energy produced 200 MWh [source].

Synergies with local policies:

• The Piemonte Regional Operational Programme for 2007-2013 concerns on playing a key role in boosting competitiveness through research and innovation, reducing carbon emissions through the promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and enhancing the attractiveness of the region with a special focus on cities, the environment and culture.

Political alignment:

• Energy Efficiency Action Plan 2017, contains a summary of the energy efficiency targets set by Italy for 2020;
• National Energy Strategy 2017, sets a 10-year strategy to make the national energy system more competitive, more sustainable, and more secure;
• The Budget Law 2018 confirmed the tax deduction scheme (Ecobonus) to incentivize energy renovation of the existing building stock.

Marketability:

• Thanks to the work and lessons learned during MLEI 2020TOGETHER, 25 more buildings in 10 Municipalities have been submitted through the same procedure during 2017 at the care of the Metropolitan City of Torino;

The progress of the project was reported in the publication of the “Guide for drawing up EPC contracts – The 2020 Together experience”, exploring the details of the key points of MLEI 2020TOGETHER.