2017 was the turning point for the energy efficiency sector, with investment growth of 10%. The number of professionals in the field is also growing — significantly.
2017 was a year of great ferment in Italy for the energy efficiency sector which, after years of stagnation, has finally set off on a path of consolidated growth. Investment reached 6.7 billion euros, with a trend that has remained positive for five years: +10 per cent compared to 2016. According to industry operators, this trajectory will continue into 2018. These are the findings of the latest Energy efficiency report 2018 presented by the Energy&Strategy Group of the School of Management at the Politecnico di Milan, which involved 191 industrial companies and the main trade associations.
The energy efficiency sector, long regarded as the "younger sibling" of renewables, has finally matured and come into its own. Last year saw a high number of acquisitions and strategic partnership deals that redrew the boundaries of activity for large utilities and decisively changed the Italian landscape of energy service companies, known as Escos. Certified Escos increased by 30 per cent, with around 10,000 employees (+34 per cent). Overall, the figures for Escos grew more over the past year than in the entire 2012–2016 period: an unmistakable sign of a gear change.
| Industrial | Home & Building | Public Administration | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investment made in 2017 (€m) | 2,250 | 4,370 | 130 | 6,750 |
| % change compared to 2016 | +12% | +10% | +11% | +10% |
Topping the investment rankings is the home & building sector with 65 per cent of the total, followed by the industrial segment at 33 per cent — around 2.2 billion euros — and the public administration, bringing up the rear with just 2 per cent. Interest is growing in interventions involving the building envelope and summer and winter air-conditioning systems, at the expense of electricity-saving measures.
The 6.7 billion euros in energy efficiency investment covered a range of solutions and technologies. Heat pumps lead the way, accounting alone for 21 per cent of the market (around 500,000 units were installed), followed by efficient lighting systems (18 per cent of investment), opaque surfaces (16 per cent of the market) and cogeneration plants, which account for 9 per cent with the installation of around 450–500 megawatts.
Of the 4.4 billion invested in the home & building sector, 80 per cent went to the residential segment, a solid 15 per cent to offices, and the remaining share to buildings used by the private tertiary sector (large organised retail and hotels). Only 20 per cent relates to new construction; 80 per cent of energy efficiency spending is dedicated to retrofit interventions.
A decline in investment is recorded for electric motors and inverters, solar thermal and refrigeration interventions.
In the industrial sector, the energy efficiency solutions most widely adopted in 2017 were cogeneration and efficient combustion systems, with investment of 582 and 493 million euros respectively — that is, more than 50 per cent of the sector's total. Investment aimed at implementing ad hoc interventions on production processes also performed well, followed by building lighting and the replacement of electric motors and inverters.
In 2017, for the first time, a clear trend emerged of large utilities acquiring major service providers specialised in specific sectors or technologies, with the aim of complementarily integrating their own resources and expertise with those of external players that have good market visibility and coverage.
There was also the entry of new operators, such as electricity or gas distributors and transporters, which have a particular interest in expanding their business and thereby offering a wide range of additional products and services. Other players that have entered the market are equity funds dedicated to financing energy efficiency projects, which acquire energy service companies offering attractive investment returns with low volatility.
Among the 347 certified Escos at the end of 2017, 47 per cent concentrated their core business in technical and management consulting in the energy field, 28 per cent originated as installers of electrical systems and subsequently specialised in energy efficiency, while the remainder is split between technology suppliers and utilities.