TrustEE project launches to facilitate underwriting for industrial energy efficiency and renewable energy projects

Many promising industrial energy efficiency and renewable projects in Europe lack viable financing due to insufficient performance or credit guarantees, a lack of ability/capacity among lenders to assess project risks, or related financing challenges.

TrustEE  is a three-year project (2016-2019) financed by the European Commission Horizon 2020 Programme to accelerate implementation of energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) solutions. This project aligns with and supports the EU energy efficiency, renewable energy and climate goals for 2020.

“The vision for and thinking behind TrustEE is to stimulate the application of energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) solutions to existing industrial processes across Europe”, explain Christoph Brunner, TrustEE project manager, AEE – Institute for Sustainable Technologies (INTEC), and Pedro Horta, Head of Group Thermal Industrial Processes and Systems, with Fraunhofer ISE in Germany. “TrustEE partners stand ready to strengthen the position of industrial project developers by providing enhanced guarantees, marketing assistance, and attractive financing options.”

Examples of solutions the project targets include replacing/augmenting conventional heating fuels (e.g., natural gas) in industrial thermal processes with waste heat recovery, solar thermal, biogas and/or biomass, and heat pumps.

In addition to AEE INTEC and Fraunhofer ISE, TrustEE project partners include AINIA centro tecnológico (Spain), the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy or eceee (EU-wide), REENAG Holding GMBH (Austria), and Universidade de Évora (Portugal).

In later stages of the project, TrustEE partners intend to create a web-enabled platform that structures and streamlines project proposals and approvals in order to facilitate and accelerate underwriting.

Industrial project developers, especially small and medium enterprises, are encouraged to visit the TrustEE website and contact TrustEE partners to learn more, and inquire about complimentary underwriting services for EU-based projects.”