Conference on Energy Saving Certificates CAE
- In its first year, the system has performed 38 certifications with an energy saving of 114,000 MWh.
- It is a key tool for boosting competitiveness in industrial sectors, and advancing the Energy Transition.
- Applications accounted for 47 per cent in the industrial sector, 37 per cent in the residential sector and 16 per cent in the tertiary sector or services.
The Basque Energy Agency has organised a news conference on the new system of Energy Savings Certificates, a tool that allows any company or entity that makes investments in energy efficiency to obtain additional income from the sale of the savings obtained, which is a key tool to encourage investments in efficiency and to advance in the Energy Transition.
The meeting opened by Energy Transition Vice Minister Irantzu Allende was attended by over 300 representatives of industrial companies from different sectors, as well as the tertiary sector and local public administrations. Heterogeneous sectors that share an interest in this new system that provides additional remuneration to their investments in efficiency and savings, making them more profitable. For the vice-advisor, this new system “encourages technological investment in industry, which results in greater welfare for society by boosting a better, more competitive industry with lower emissions”.
The program of the day has had a round table made up of companies that play different roles within this new system, such as the subjects obliged to invest in efficiency, with examples of Repsol and Iberdrola, as well as the figures of intermediaries and delegated subjects. In addition, there have been cases of success of Basque companies and entities that have already achieved significant energy savings thanks to their investments in efficient technology and the sale of the savings obtained in the Energy Savings Certificates system.
The meeting was closed by Mikel Amundarain, Director-General of the Basque Energy Agency, who said that this new system “will benefit consumers with more sustainable investment costs, offering new economic incentives to invest in efficiency and savings” and advancing the Energy Transition.
CAE system in the Basque Country
This system was launched in 2023 and it was in 2024 that it started to certify more significantly the savings achieved through actions and investments in energy efficiency. The Basque Energy Agency operates as the system’s autonomous manager, enabling it to manage and evaluate certification requests.
The Energy Savings Certificate System is a market in which energy savings can be purchased from those who carry out efficiency and savings projects and certify them. The purchase is made by those known as obliged persons, who are companies and entities which, by European guidelines, are obliged to invest or buy savings. In this way, those performing efficiency actions can sell those savings, thus obtaining additional income.
During the year 2024, the system has been consolidated in the Basque Country and has experienced significant growth with a total of 38 certification requests and for a total of 43 actions that have added together an estimated energy saving of 114,000 MWh. Actions likely to become a CAE can be carried out in any area of activity and are part of a catalogue of fact sheets which is constantly updated. In the Basque Country, 14 of the registered actions correspond to the industrial sector -such as the replacement of compressors, the improvement of cold and heat systems, the purification of fumes, thermal insulation -, 16 to the residential sector -such as the replacement of combustion boilers by heat pumps, the rehabilitation of the thermal envelope or the deep rehabilitation of houses -, 7 in the tertiary sector -such as the replacement of air conditioning systems – and 6 unique industrial projects have been presented.
It should be noted that both the residential sector and the services, even with lower savings, are monetizing them, which allows to minimize the economic impact of the investments and promote projects that are burdensome to implement.
The system of certificates in an innovative tool that encourages investment in clean energy saving technologies, and allows, in turn, to monetise the savings achieved and generate a positive energy, environmental and economic impact.
Octopus
This event is part of the activities carried out by the Basque Energy Agency within the framework of the European project Life Octopus, which aims to promote cooperation between different local entities, mainly in the development and implementation of sustainable energy policies and to facilitate the energy and climate transition. These certifications provide a new opportunity to finance actions aimed at local energy sustainability, as they allow for more acceptable investment costs, which is a boost to efficiency, savings and the energy and climate transition.
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