A guide to Energy Services Companies (ESCOs) on how to participate in the Dubai Buildings Retrofit Program Version 1.0 Produced by Etihad Energy Services Co. May 2014
Contents Introduction... 3 The Dubai initiative... 3 The framework for the ESCO market... 5 Etihad ESCO and the buildings retrofit program... 5 Requirements for Energy Services Companies (ESCOs)... 9 How to participate in Etihad ESCO projects... 10 Conclusion... 10 A guide to ESCOs for the Dubai Buildings Retrofit Program Page 2
Introduction This guide is intended to help Energy Services Companies (ESCOs) understand the initiative that Dubai has taken to reduce the demand of energy from its existing buildings and to provide them with clear information as to what is required from them and the steps they should be taking if they wish to participate in this initiative. The Dubai initiative Dubai is a strongly growing economy and this is posing numerous problems to ensure that the growth is made in a sustainable manner. One important aspect is related to Energy. A growing economy generally means more demand for core services such as Electricity and Water supply. To tackle these topics at high level, the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE) was formed in August 2009 under Law 19 of 2009, issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai. His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum was appointed as Chairman for the Council and His Excellency Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, as Vice Chairman. The Council has a Secretary General and an Advisory Committee from competent and specialized workforce. The new Governing body seeks to ensure that the Emirate's growing economy will have sustainable energy while preserving the environment. The Authority is developing alternative and renewable energy sources for the Emirate, while increasing energy efficiency to reduce demand. The Dubai Supreme Council of Energy is the governing body tasked with policy development, planning and coordinating with concerned authorities & energy bodies to deliver new energy sources while employing a balanced approach to protecting the environment. One of the major initiatives that the DSCE has taken recently is to develop in 2010 the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030 also named DIES 2030. The DIES 2030 started to be deployed in 2011 to set the strategic direction of Dubai towards securing sustainable supply of energy and enhancing demand efficiency (water, power & transportation fuel). Topics addressed by the DIES 2030 are summarized in Figure 1. A guide to ESCOs for the Dubai Buildings Retrofit Program Page 3
Figure 1, the Dubai Integrated Strategy 2030 topics An important element of the DIES 2030 is Energy Efficiency and Demand Reduction. To address this particular domain, the DSCE has then developed a comprehensive Demand Side Management (DSM) Strategy associated with a detailed implementation plan. The DSM Strategy is addressing the ways that Dubai intends to reduce its demand for energy from today up to 2030 to improve the energy efficiency of the Emirate. The DSM Strategy has been developed around eight programs that all have clear objectives, defined goals and owners. A summary of the DSM Strategy and its eight programs is provided in Figure 2. Figure 2, summary of the DSM strategy A guide to ESCOs for the Dubai Buildings Retrofit Program Page 4
For buildings, there are two separate programs under the DSM Strategy. Program 1 does target the new buildings to be constructed and is about defining the regulations and building code that new buildings have to follow. This program is owned and administered by the Dubai Municipality. Program 2 does target the existing buildings of Dubai and is about retrofitting the energy inefficient buildings so that electricity and water used by these buildings can be saved. This program is owned and administered by Etihad Energy Services Company or Etihad ESCO. Programs 3 to 8 do target other energy domains and are owned and administered by a variety of Dubai organizations such as the Dubai Regulatory and Supervisory Bureau for Electricity and Water (Dubai RSB), the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), the Dubai Municipality and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). The framework for the ESCO market While developing the DSM Strategy and the Buildings Retrofit program, some market barriers were identified as potential issues preventing Energy Services Companies (ESCOs) from prospering and for buildings retrofits to happen broadly. Trust and confidence from buildings owners is seen as key to ensure they would be ready to provide their buildings for an energy retrofit. More generally, it was decided that Dubai needed a regulatory framework for its ESCO market and the Dubai Regulatory and Supervisory Bureau for Electricity and Water (Dubai RSB) was tasked to develop such an ESCO framework. In February 2014, the Dubai ESCO framework was officially released and published. It is composed of four main elements that were developed during 2013 in cooperation with the market stakeholders: An ESCO Accreditation Scheme Standard Contracts for Energy Performance Contracting Measurement & Verification Guidelines A dispute resolution mechanism The ESCO framework is freely available on the RSB website. Etihad ESCO and the buildings retrofit program Al Etihad Energy Services Company (abbreviated as Etihad ESCO) was established in 2013 as an initiative by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) under the leadership of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE) to create a viable market in Dubai for building energy efficiency services. Etihad ESCO is the official Dubai Super ESCO. A guide to ESCOs for the Dubai Buildings Retrofit Program Page 5
A Super ESCO is an entity that is established by the Government and serves as an ESCO for the large untapped public sector (hospitals, schools, municipalities, government buildings and other public facilities). It supports capacity development and activities of other ESCOs and facilitates access to project financing - Dilip R. Limaye, Senior Advisor, World Bank A Super ESCO is not competing with ESCOs but on the contrary is mandated to organize and establish a market for ESCOs. Etihad ESCO owns the Dubai buildings retrofit program from the DSM Strategy and has clear goals and objectives. An estimation was made as part of the DSM Strategy study revealing that out of the 120 000+ buildings that are in existence in Dubai, 30 000 of them would be suitable for an energy retrofit. These 30 000 buildings are of all sort and size. They comprise residential and non-residential buildings as well as government and other privately owned facilities. By 2030 the DSM Strategy has further estimated that 1.7GWh of Electricity and 5.6Billion of Imperial Gallons (IG) of Water can be saved each year. These savings would result in a carbon dioxide abatement of 1 million tons per year. These figures have been set as the 2030 targets for Etihad ESCO to achieve and are summarized in Figure 3. These targets are ambitious but they can be reached. To not miss the target, annual objectives up to 2030 have also been defined for Etihad ESCO. Figure 3, the buildings retrofit program targets by 2030 Etihad ESCO has developed an ambitious business plan in order to reach these targets. The focus is on inefficient existing buildings and initially on the ones owned by government entities. There are over 40 governmental entities in Dubai owning and occupying several thousand buildings. The business model that Etihad ESCO is deploying in Dubai is to be the middle-man between facility owners, ESCOs and Financial Institutions in order to act as an effective facilitator to remove the market barriers so that energy retrofits do happen effectively. A visual representation of the business model is shown on Figure 4. A guide to ESCOs for the Dubai Buildings Retrofit Program Page 6
The role that Etihad ESCO plays is: 1. Prequalify buildings from Owners portfolio Data analysis & benchmarking Site survey Establish project feasibility 2. Organize the tendering on behalf of Owners Manage the tender process as per applicable regulations/rules Negotiate with ESCOs Select the best offer and Award the project 3. Secure financing if outside of Owner s budget Negotiations with Financial Institutions Credit risk 4. Follow-up project execution with the ESCO Ease relation with Owners Verify commissioning 5. Follow-up during the guarantee phase Verify savings provided by ESCOs Liaise with Owners in case of issues Manage Contracts Figure 4, Etihad ESCO business model The contractual model used by Etihad ESCO is the so-called Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) model. The EPC model was created in the eighties and has now been used in North America for more than 30 years. Similarly in certain European countries such as Germany, Austria or Sweden, the EPC model has been used for around 20 years. As an example, the city of Berlin in Germany has used this model to retrofit thousands of public buildings. More recently the City of London through the A guide to ESCOs for the Dubai Buildings Retrofit Program Page 7
impulse of its Mayor has created its own EPC retrofit program named Refit in order to improve the energy efficiency of the Greater London Area. The basic principle of EPC is that the initial investment that needs to be made in a building to generate energy savings will itself be financed through the generated savings over the years. A loan will initially be contracted through a Financial Institution or a Green fund in order to finance the initial investment. An ESCO will then use that investment to implement Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) into the building. The savings generated by these ECMs will then be used to repay the loan over a certain number of years. During the repayment period, the owner will have no share of the savings or only a small share so that the rest of the savings are used to repay the loan. At the end of the repayment period, the owner will then benefit from all the savings that are generated. The EPC model works because the ESCO that will perform the work is guaranteeing the energy savings. This guarantee is key as it secures the repayment streams for the lender. The ESCO should be carefully selected and be able to provide that guarantee during many years. The below Figure 5 explains graphically how the model works. Figure 5, Energy Performance Contracting Model After completion of the work and commissioning of all the ECMs, the ESCO will regularly perform measurement and verifications (M&V) in order to check that the energy savings do materialize. This M&V operation has to be made during the whole contract duration and is the tool to evaluate the performance of the ESCO and the guarantee that was initially committed. M&V can be a complex exercise because the energy consumption in a building will depend on many factors such as, for example, the weather temperature that will impact the operation of the chillers and therefore their energy consumption. Therefore, when ECMs are being agreed with the Owner, an M&V Plan is also created by the ESCO and approved by the Owner. The M&V plan will include all the variables and describe how the savings are measured. Etihad ESCO is helping the Owners to A guide to ESCOs for the Dubai Buildings Retrofit Program Page 8
assess the proposals form the ESCOs and verify the M&V plans. The Dubai ESCO framework released by RSB includes measurement and verification guidelines that are based on the internationally recognized protocol named IPMVP (International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol) that was developed and is maintained by a non-profit organization named Efficiency Valuation Organization (EVO). This organization also provides training and certification through approved partners. Energy professionals can become CMVP (Certified Measurement and Verification Professional) through this training and certification. A first CMVP training has been carried out in Dubai in March 2014 and further trainings will be organized in late 2014 and 2015 in order to help ESCOs get their people certified to IPMVP. Requirements for Energy Services Companies (ESCOs) In order to participate in the buildings retrofit program managed by Etihad ESCO, the ESCO companies should first ensure that they have all the capacities required. Etihad ESCO is looking for companies able to provide comprehensive turnkey projects. Therefore these companies need to be able to: Audit buildings to detect energy and water saving opportunities Identify the Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) that will be reducing the energy and water usage Design these ECMs including producing energy saving calculations, implementation plans, project plans, M&V plans, drawings etc. Implement the ECMs through a comprehensive work plan Commission the work Develop a Measurement & Verification plan according to Dubai RSB M&V guidelines and IPMVP guidelines Provide the service and maintain the installed ECMs for a number of years Measure the savings and provide regular savings reports during the savings guarantee phase Guarantee the savings contractually over the contract duration and be prepared to compensate financially the savings if they do not materialize as promised. Note that ECMs will be of multiple natures. Naturally many of them will address the HVAC systems in the buildings that are, in the UAE, the source for the highest energy consumption; but they will also address lighting, building controls, motors, pumps, isolation, etc. It is worth mentioning at this stage that ESCOs should be capable of identifying conservation measures both for electricity and water in the buildings. For people that are not familiar with the U.A.E., natural drinking water is almost inexistent in the U.A.E. and is mostly produced from sea water through a desalinization process that consumes energy. Water in the U.A.E. is therefore equivalent to energy and any saving that can be done on water will be considered as important as a saving on electricity. ESCO companies that have the capabilities listed above and willing to participate in the building retrofit program need to get accredited through the RSB Accreditation Scheme. Details of the A guide to ESCOs for the Dubai Buildings Retrofit Program Page 9
accreditation scheme and the procedure to go through and required documents are available on the RSB website. On April 1 of 2014, the first ESCO was accredited through the RSB Accreditation Scheme and many other ESCOs are expected to be accredited during 2014. At some point in time, Etihad ESCO will only work for its projects with ESCOs that are accredited through the RSB Accreditation Scheme. It is therefore highly recommended for a company that wishes to participate in the program to ensure that it gets accredited by RSB. How to participate in Etihad ESCO projects If your company qualifies as an ESCO and wishes to participate in the building retrofit program managed by Etihad ESCO, we recommend for you to get in touch with Etihad ESCO so that a preliminary presentation meeting can be held. Etihad ESCO regularly publishes its new projects on its website in the Tenders section. If you wish to be informed of upcoming tenders, you can register to our tenders mailing list by sending us an email at etihad.info@etihadesco.com You may then express interest for the projects launched by formally responding to Etihad ESCO expressions of interest. You will then receive a request for prequalification so that the capability of your organization can be assessed in regards to the specifics of the project being organized. Further to the prequalification, Etihad ESCO will then select a few ESCOs which will receive all the details of the project and be invited to make proposals. This is the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage. After having submitted their proposals on the RFP, ESCOs will be invited for meetings to present their offer and respond to questions. The best offer according to the scoring criteria defined in the RFP will then be selected and the winning ESCO will be invited to sign the contract and execute the project. The scoring criteria for selecting the winning ESCO are clearly be stated in the RFP so that ESCOs have a precise view on how their offers will be assessed. Conclusion As we hope you will have realized through this guide, Dubai has setup a very clear, straightforward and solid program to retrofit its existing buildings in order to meet the targets of the DSM strategy. The program itself will generate many business opportunities for the ESCOs that are willing to take up the challenge. For more information or to contact Etihad ESCO, please check our web site at www.etihadesco.ae or send an email to etihad.info@etihadesco.com A guide to ESCOs for the Dubai Buildings Retrofit Program Page 10