“Energy efficiency: managers need time to recover their investments, and the public the opportunity to benefit from them”: this is how Stefano Venier, Chief Executive Officer of the Hera Group, commented on one of the crucial issues of national energy policies.
The achievement of ever more ambitious objectives of reducing consumption suggests new very challenging management formulas to the Municipalities. On this front, moreover, “finance is not a problem – assures Venier at the opening of the conference 'Financing energy efficiency in the Public Administration', organized this morning by CESEF (Energy Efficiency Study Center) at the Hera headquarters in Bologna -. On the contrary, ample tools are available for efficiency-enhancing interventions to obtain the necessary resources".
However, the system only works effectively if the division of roles is clear. “The operational framework is essential for success. The Administration sets objectives and goals – continues the CEO Venier –, the manager has the task of putting in place the functional interventions to achieve them”.
“Our Group – concluded Stefano Venier – has always been at the forefront of energy efficiency. With the 117 interventions carried out in 2016, we have already produced a 2,6% cut in consumption, compared to the 3% target set for the current year which, thanks to the activities already planned, will be exceeded without difficulty. This is why we have revised it upwards aiming for 5% by 2020”.
The Director of CESEF, Stefano Clerici, commented as follows: “The PAs must understand the opportunities that energy efficiency generates in economic, environmental and even political terms. For this reason, CESEF is building the toolbox for energy efficiency in the PA to provide the most appropriate tools to solve the problems that block investments in this area. From the point of view of financing, the use of advanced public-private partnership contracts is essential, capable of correctly distributing the risks of the project between the PA and private operators and attracting the abundant resources available above all from the banking world".
At the conference, organized in collaboration with Confservizi Emilia Romagna, some successful cases in the Public Administration field were presented. Among the institutions that attended, the Emilia Romagna Region, the Municipalities of Bologna and Budrio, the Agency for Energy and Sustainable Development of Modena and the Anci Emilia Romagna. There were also many companies at the table together with Hera Luce, a Group company and the second largest Italian operator in the field of public lighting, which presented the energy redevelopment plans underway in some Municipalities of Emilia Romagna as a best case.
