Interview with Jana Szomolányiová, the co-ordinator of the Transparense project
05. 11. 2013
In order to gain an understanding of the aim and purpose of Transparense, we have asked Jana Szomolányiová of SEVEn, the Czech co-ordinator of the project, to answer some questions about the project.
Why is the Transparense project important?
Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) is an energy service allowing the client to save energy without capital costs as the investments are being repaid directly from the saved energy costs. There is a great potential for such projects within the EU, but most of it is not utilised. This is a paradox in the time of financial crisis when organisations - especially in the public sector - lack the necessary capital to renovate their buildings. An initial Transparense survey showed that major EPC barriers include confidence in the EPC providers, complexity of the EPC method and low demand on the client side. Thus, Transparense aims to respond to these barriers and increase the transparency and trustworthiness of EPC markets as well as the quality of the services provided. We believe this will result in an evident increase in the number of implemented EPC projects.
How do you plan to achieve such aims?
In order to increase the quality and transparency of EPC services, we are preparing a European EPC Code of Conduct. If we succeed in getting the majority of the EPC providers to accept and adhere to the principles of fair and best practice in the business, we can expect the credibility of the market to build up over time as well as the demand for EPC projects.
Transparense focuses on providing the supply side with international know-how and feedback from a number of trainings and workshops. Furthermore, the project will provide substantial information online, including training materials and data on the European EPC markets. Some of the most experienced European EPC experts will help
What are the project’s key success factors?
The key success factor is to involve EPC market players in the development of the Code of Conduct. It is crucial that EPC providers recognize that they will benefit from adhering to a set of rules for the EPC business as this will result in increased trust from clients and, consequently, an increase in demand.
Furthermore it is important that governments, being major potential EPC clients, take the opportunity to use EPC Code of Conduct to implement high quality EPC projects aiming to reduce energy consumption on their property. This will also help them to fulfil the requirements of the Energy Efficiency Directive in the area of energy services.
For companies or potential EPC clients interested in the project: Take a look at our website (www.transparense.eu) and sign up for the newsletter, which will inform on planned Transparense activities. By the end of November the results of the ESCO survey within 20 EU countries will be presented as well as the proposed Code of Conduct.
Contact: Jana Szomolányiová co-ordinator of Transparense and senior consultant at Czech SEVEn.
