PLS 2018: Unlocking investment for street lighting projects (ICP)

Editor's Notes

1. Good morning everyone. My name’s… Really pleased to be here today to talk to you about the Investor Confidence Project, and specifically our progress on expanding into the streetlighting sector. I work for Verco, a UK sustainability and climate change consultancy. Leading the technical development of the Investor Confidence Project, and are also UK advocates.
2. Some of you may have heard at least a little about this project, but for those who haven't, I will give a brief overview of what it is all about, and then summarise the progress we are making in expanding from the buildings sector into the new sectors, finishing with next steps for the project.
3. So what is ICP all about? Starting with buildings…. Myriad of different building types and scales: a wide range of approaches to developing energy efficiency retrofits – e.g. tools to use, data collection techniques – no two projects are the same. Fundamentally, it’s all about standardisation – numerous investors have highlighted this as a major issue because if they want to invest in a portfolio of say 1000 projects, must look at each one individually to understand the risks.
4. Despite huge potential for EE projects and the capital available to invest… So whilst standardisation is a major issue, other problems that need to be solved to unlock demand: Risk associated with the nature of the project Absence of historic baseline data with right levels of submetering for the measures involved  Combine a wide variety of project types, user behaviours and energy conservation measures, lots of different outcomes.  Unexpected changes in demand - Risk associated with the way the project is developed resulting in poor performance This room today is full of market experts but across the industry there is a wide variety of skills and experience e.g. ESOS  Lack of ability to group smaller projects into investable portfolios Solving those issues would help bridge the gap between investors and projects.
5. ICP has developed a solution to this which is the IREE certification, intended to mitigate these issues. International framework which gives: - Increased certainty of savings by applying a best practice, standardised approach to assessing and implementing projects. - Reduced due diligence costs thanks to 3rd party review of each project. - Certification enables aggregation of projects into high performance portfolios.
6. Certification in context of the project life cycle? Certified PD develops and documents - protocols. Protocols: developing baseline and predicting savings – plus plans for commissioning, O&M, and M&V.  Submits package to 3rd party certified QAA who then reviews it. If happy, then certify. Awarded during underwriting – so project owners/investors can make investment decisions with greater confidence based on the predicted savings. Approval: implemented, and energy performance optimised, measured and verified.
7. ICP has networks for… Applicants must attend training and must meet requirements on…. Experience is confirmed by signing a Declaration of Honour Only members of these networks will be able to develop and assess projects in SL [Providers for buildings: 34 PDs, 19 QAAs]
8. ICP Europe originally awarded Horizon 2020 funding for buildings Last year, we were awarded additional funding to extend this work to…. We’ve been working on developing the technical resources for those three sectors; industrial and SL protocols now published. Now focus street lighting sector in relation to ICP and what we are doing.
9. LEDs are becoming dominant source of lighting in cities around the world Major global investment next decade.  Huge potential for savings in the UK and across Europe. >50% in the UK. Not just about LEDs. Networked “smart” streetlights help cities: dimming, reduced maintenance costs. “Smart cities”: link things like electricity meters, traffic lights, parking meters, weather  Historically provided only illumination, today they can serve as multi-functional smart-city nodes. However… SL: complicated by unmetered supplies, accuracy of asset inventories, and changes in the energy performance of lighting systems over time. SL protocol: codifies best practice in calculating/delivering energy savings - helps ensure investments deliver in practice Ultimately open up a bigger market
10. All protocols have common structure 5 ICP stages Relate to requirements during underwriting stage - including plans On ICP Europe website Rigorous process of stakeholder engagement – Focus Group meetings, individual discussions (inc ILP) and open Technical Forums
11. Protocol allows for two approaches to baselining and M&V… IPMVP Options A, B or C Deemed much more common in UK.
12. Covers range of project types. Can include: WiFi, sensors, public info systems Cannot include: EV - so hard to predict
13. Some of the key requirements of the protocol include…. Transparency is critical requirement – clearly documented e.g. Highway Electrical Skills Academy in UK
14. Collect asset info – asset registers, physical inspection Power consumption – ideally from on-site measurements; or manu data; or nationally rec doc Operational hours – ideally nationally rec approach; or on-site measurement Cross-check – using sampling approach Repeat for proposed project Third party verification important
15. So what benefits can ICP for SL bring? For public sector… Project often developed in-house by LAs - technical knowledge may not be as extensive.
16. For PDs and contractors…
17. Opportunities to engage with ICP: Sign up as Ally Training Limited funding is available to provide technical support to help projects achieve certification, so projects will benefit from a free quality assurance service. Please get in touch if you are developing an SL project and would like to be among the very first globally to benefit from the ICP system in this sector.