Notes of Energy Efficiency

WHAT THEY ARE

The Notes of Energy Efficiency (TEE in Italian), commonly known as White Certificates (“Certificati Bianchi”), have been introduced by law in July 2004 to promote energy efficiency: they certify the savings of primary energy from fossil fuels, measured in Tonnes of Equivalent Oil (“Tonnellate Equivalenti di Petrolio”, TEP), corresponding to a given energy efficiency intervention, in both the cases of civil and industrial application.

This incentive scheme is managed by the Italian Authority for Electric Energy and Gas (AEEG) that tracks the achievements in terms of energy efficiency at a national level.

For every type of intervention, AEEG has prepared a technical sheet that unanimously quantify the amount of energy savings corresponding to the replacement of an existing device or structure with an energy-efficient one. These interventions can be done on thermal or electrical plants, on construction components (eg, windows) and on renewable energy sources.

HOW MUCH THEY ARE WORTH

The market of the Notes of Energy Efficiency follows the laws of supply and demand, where the price of each TEE is the result of regular market sessions. From 2009 to 2012 the price has slowly but steadily increased from 70 €/TEE to over 110 €/TEE, while it has stabilized around 100 €/TEE in 2013.

Demand for TEEs remains strong because utility companies are forced to comply with increasingly stringent energy savings requirement. This dictation comes from the goal to continuously increase the achievements in terms of energy efficiency at a national level.

WHO BENEFITS FROM TEEs

The returns of TEEs are not given to the End Customers (companies, institutional bodies, private citizens) but to ESCo companies. These are the companies that exclusively deal with TEEs and act as a third party in the relationship between the company providing energy efficiency solutions (for example, SOLAND) and the Customer. In fact, only ESCos, and only the ones which are authorized by AEEG, can issue, sell or trade TEEs, on the market.

THE ROLE OF SOLAND

Through TEEs, the Customer receives a financial support for its energy efficiency interventions. SOLAND, leveraging over the rapport with various ESCOs, maximize the financial benefits for the Customer (in terms of payback time and cash flow) coming from the energy efficiency intervention.