More
than 250 energy agencies throughout Europe have so far been created with Community
support through the SAVE programme. From the experience gained, the Energy Unit
of the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy and Transport now has an overview on the
reasons for success or failure of the energy management agencies. Financial
support for the creation of the agencies is not always enough to ensure their
successful operation and the continuity of the agency after the finalisation of
the Community support. Other types of support are needed and required by the agencies.
The Intelligent Energy-Europe programme and the ManagEnergy initiative are devised
to be key tools to provide complementary support to the energy agencies for achieving
more and better results in their activities. One of the key elements of this initiative
is the provision of training to the agencies in those topics that are most needed.
We are very much aware that the success of an energy agency depends greatly
on the skills of its Director and competent staff. Training in management of agencies
becomes then a most relevant topic to energy agencies, with an even more particular
interest for recently created agencies. |
It
was proposed that the following questions should be addressed: -
In general agencies could analyse their own situation according to the following
scheme
- What is the vision/mission of my enterprise to fulfil my
clients needs?
- In which (economical, political, technical) environment
do we live?
- Which competitors are in the place at the same time?
- Who
are my customers (qualitatively, quantitatively, their needs, etc.)?
- My
own strength, weaknesses, opportunities, risks?
- Is there a unique position
that I can claim for my offers?
- What are my objectives (clearly defined,
responsibilities, timeframe)?
- Do I have a marketing strategy (cheaper,
better, well targeted, general) with clearly defined value for clients, price
signals, distribution ways, communication tools?
- Do I regularly compare
my situation with my formulated targets?
During the workshop it will
only be possible to find a common understanding regarding the big differences
between the agencies with regard to size, political environment, financial basis,
subjects of their work, etc. and the method of analysis that could help to improve
ones performance. An introduction of the ideas and a presentation of different
agency models (following the same order of items) from different European regions
will help to understand differences and to derive categories for comparison. Success
stories are only useful if you understand the environment in which they could
happen. Successful adaptation to ones own situation only may happen if you are
able to compare the differing environments. After the introduction working groups
are a useful method to start detailed discussions to get aware of the differences.
Some topics that might form the basis for theses discussions are given below. -
What makes energy agencies successful?
- Make your founder happy
- Don´t
be a friend of his enemy
- Offer value for your clients (city administration,
Regional council) money
- Management skills of the management
- Driven
by objectives rather that convictions
- Get independent of public money
- What is successful?
- Growing number of employees
- More
(unpaid) work (demand) than you can bear
- Ongoing annual budgets of your
administration
- A feasible amount of saved energy (avoided CO2-emissions)
every year
- Realized demonstration projects that may be multiplied on a
commercial scale by others
- A good image at the EC
- A good image
in your region
- Suppose you have to earn your salary by excellent services, who´s going
to pay for?
- Municipalities (treasurer, housing dpmt, head of
environmental section)
- Housing societies
- Producing companies
- Engineering
companies
- Energy supply companies
-
Preaching or offering valuable services?
- Energy advice to reduce
public energy bills
- Built up benchmark comparisons
- Energy efficient
planning procedures for buildings
- Energy efficient planning procedures
for furnaces, CHP plants
- Energy efficient planning procedures for lighting
devices
- Running plants with less (fossil) energy than before
- Marketing
campaigns to sell products or services
- Social marketing for better public
acceptance of political goals
- Find subsidies or others sources of finance
to realize a project
- Organize networks with other companies
-
How will you be better than others?
(consultants, engineers, environmentalists,
co-workers in the administration, sellers of equipment)
- Cheaper
- More
problem oriented
- More dedicated to the client
- Know more
about energy efficiency (latest technology, …)
- Added value to
usual standard performance
- Proven results
-
Intercultural dimension
Never could imagine that you call yourself an
energy agency but work in a completely different setting (organisation, payment,
tasks)
(derive typical differences - commercial company=ESCO, part of an administration
to realize a certain policy, public owned company with high percentage in public
funding)
- How does your administration work? (0ther than mine)
- What
are the real political needs?
- Which parties are in favour of your
existence? Are they ruling or opposing?
- Who is responsible to assure
your annual budget?
-
Hypothesis
Agencies undergo lifecycles as well as products or services.
At the beginning there is a strong need of any political party/person to follow
a progressive energy policy (not directed to the usual commercial energy business
= selling electricity or heat). Talking about renewable energy sources first sounds
crazy, than innovative and in the end boring. At first some people are listening
because you offer some news. Later they will only listen if you may offer money
or business opportunities. Then the political question arises weather it is political
correct to compete with private companies (city utilities, engineers, consulter).
Often there seems to be a contradiction between the (important) political objectives
of the EC and the practical possibilities at the regional reality, while the big
goals have not been reached at all the interest in the region already has diminished.
How could the EC become more realistic to support interested activists in a valuable
way? The selection of the topics that could be discussed should be found
according to future activities we want to follow: - What could we offer later?
- How to derive a real business plan
- How
to prepare a campaign
- How to gain a high performance in PR work
- Technical
skills to use the new calculation procedure for heat loads in buildings
- How
to manage the co-workers
- How to derive services that clients need
|
| Welcome
and Introductions | | |
Welcome by Verein der Energieagenturen Deutschlands (EAD)
Michael Geißler,
Berliner Energieagentur | | Slides | Welcome
and Introduction by the European Commission
Pedro Ballesteros, Directorate-General for Energy
& Transport, European Commission | | |
Energy Agencies in Europe
Ralf Goldmann, Berliner Energieagentur | | Presentations
of the work of energy agencies | | Slides | Presentation
of the Energy Agency of the Freiburg Region (DE)
Rainer Schüle, Energieagentur
Regio Freiburg | | Slides | Presentation
of the Mälardalen Energy Network (SE)
Staffan Svensson, Mälardalens
Energikontor | | Slides | Presentation
of the Regional Energy Agency of Liguria (IT)
Maria Fabianelli, Agenzia
Regionale per l'Energia di Liguria |  | Slides | Presentation
of the Regional Energy and Environment Agency of Rhône-Alpes (FR) Christian
Labie, Rhônalpénergie-Environnement
including   Poster
presentation of RARE Réseau des Agences Régionales de l'Energie
et de l'Environnement (164 Kb) | | Diapositives | | | | | Working
Groups | | Slides | Introduction
into the Working Groups
Dr. Georg Wagener-Lohse, ZukunftsAgentur Brandenburg | | Parallel
Sessions | | Working Group A:
Topics and Markets for Energy Agencies | | | | Working Group B:
Representing the Stakeholders | | | | Working Group C:
Why PR and How to Do It | |
Presentation by Andrea Köhnen, Berliner
Energieagentur GmbH (203 Kb) | | Working Group D:
Setting up a Business Plan | Minutes
by A. Preiß, Berliner Energieagentur GmbH Introduction
The participants of working group D represented energy agencies
recently established and agencies which have successfully managed the first years.
Furthermore, a private consultancy, who is advising a local energy agency in setting
up a business plan, was represented.
Generally, four vital
points of a business plan - the product, the market, the position on the market
and the costs - were discussed and further support required was defined. | Product
As services of the presented energy agencies were specified the
following:- Economic and technical consultancy services on energy efficiency
and the use of renewable energy sources mainly for municipalities and the housing
sector
- Creation of databases e.g. on energy consumption of public buildings
and on funds for energy efficiency measures
- Giving input for regional
and national energy policy
- Networking with regional institutions involved
in the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources and with foreign
energy agencies
- Education e.g. by pushing the presentation of energy saving
in school-books
- Communication e.g. of new energy policies to the citizens
The
certification of buildings in the context of the EU-directive was identified as
a further potential field of action. | Market
The
market for the services mentioned above mainly the public sector, i.e. regional
and local authorities, national ministries and the European Union. The services
are offered in particular to representatives and politicians responsible for energy
and environment and to the public. | Position
Utilities,
independent architects and engineers, other energy agencies as well as the technical
staff of the public administration were identified as other actors on the market.
As for the relation between the energy agency and the private players, most participants
of the group were in favour of a cooperation in the sense of a Public Private
Partnership.
In this context, the non-profit making and thus
independent character of the energy agency was seen as an advantage. Most participants
agreed that the independency alows the energy agency to act as an intermediary
between politics, economy and the public and thus to pave the way for private
business activities. |
Costs
The
accounting of direct and overhead costs and the pricing of the services were identified
as problems for many energy agencies. | Support
needed
The participants specified the following needs for further
support required by the energy agencies: - Knowledge on priorities in
politics
- Cost accounting
- Exact definition of the product and
the price
- Organisational issues
| | Plenary
Session: Reports by the Working Groups and Outlook |
|
