Today, accelerating the energy transition is an imperative. Businesses of all sizes must be part of the shift, but small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often face unique challenges: significant upfront costs and increasing system complexity are preventing the implementation of cutting-edge energy-efficient technologies, hindering their ability to embrace a more sustainable path.
In June 2020, BASE along with industry leaders AGORIA, ANESE, and EiT Innoenergy, launched the Efficiency-as-a-Service (EaaS) initiative, providing both a solution and an opportunity for the uptake of efficient energy systems. This groundbreaking project champions a novel approach: energy efficiency solutions on a pay-per-use basis. Under this model, the technology provider installs, maintains, and takes full ownership of the equipment, while SMEs pay a fee per unit of energy-efficient service delivered, such as euros per cubic metre of compressed air or per hour of lighting. Hence, EaaS shifts how SMEs access and utilise sustainable technologies by removing the financial barriers associated with upfront capital investment. Gaining immediate access to state-of-the-art equipment without the burden of hefty initial costs not only empowers them to reduce their environmental footprint but also frees up valuable capital to reinvest in core business functions and growth initiatives.
The EaaS initiative goes beyond simply offering a new financing model. It fosters a collaborative ecosystem where industry leaders, technology providers, and SMEs work together to achieve shared sustainability goals. Identifying and documenting projects at the forefront of the model’s implementation has been at the heart of the initiative’s objectives. Therefore, over the four years of the Europe-focused project, the team sought out examples from servitisation pioneers representing major advances for energy efficiency and renewable energies “as-a-Service”.
Discover below the five case studies created in the context of the EaaS Initiative:
#1: Accelerating Light as a Service and Circular Economy with Signify
Businesses can now embrace energy-efficient lighting solutions without the high initial costs associated with acquiring the system and the responsibilities related to its upkeep. This reality is enabled by Signify’s “Light-as-a-Service” offer, which is benefiting Nexans’s Swiss facility of Cortaillod along with more than 10 other sites from Nexans around the globe.
Through this innovative approach, a complete overhaul of the industrial plant’s lighting system was achieved, resulting in the replacement of outdated fixtures with state-of-the-art, energy-efficient LED lighting systems. The project significantly enhanced Nexans’ personnel workspace comfort and reduced energy consumption. But the financial benefits extend beyond energy savings. By outsourcing the lighting management to Signify, Nexans freed up valuable internal resources and eliminated the burden of equipment maintenance. This allowed them to focus on their activities while enjoying the peace of mind that comes with a reliable, energy-efficient lighting solution.
Signify’s partnership with Nexans serves as an example of how Light-as-a-Service can empower businesses to access affordable energy efficiency.
The full case study can be accessed here.
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#2: Bringing Sustainable Solutions Together with EDF Renewables
This case study explores how EDF Renewables Deutschland, a leading player in the sector, realised the key potential of energy storage to shave off consumption peaks and enhance flexibility by offering it under a servitisation model, or Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS). Curbing electricity usage at high-demand times holds an array of advantages: it avoids inefficiencies due to energy losses from over-utilisation and mitigates the need to activate peaker plants, typically fuelled by natural gas and a major contributor to global warming. Additionally, storing energy, on a large scale, is crucial to universalise renewables: cleaner technologies depend on external factors to generate energy, such as weather patterns, sunlight hours, and wind speeds. This production intermittency poses a significant challenge to ensure reliable supply to users anytime, but batteries can effectively address this by storing surplus and releasing it when needed. In countries where electricity is more expensive at peak hours, storage also allows for substantial savings by empowering consumers to reduce the share of energy used at such times.
The Beck & Co brewery, part of AB InBev, a global beer-making company, sought a sustainable solution to reduce energy demand peaks. EDF Renewables’ Battery-as-a-Service solution was chosen to manage electricity consumption and reduce expenses by storing energy at times of lower demand and releasing it for the facility’s use at high-load periods, hence alleviating pressure on the grid. By integrating a state-of-the-art solution in a historic brewery with no interruption of the activity, the partnership between AB InBev and EDF Renewables constitutes an engineering success and highlights the potential for retrofitting energy systems in large industrial facilities.
The full case study can be accessed here.
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#3: Bringing Sustainable Refrigeration with ANEO Retail and Danfoss
For supermarkets and food service businesses, maintaining optimal refrigeration temperatures is essential for ensuring food safety and product quality. However, traditional refrigeration systems can be energy-intensive and contribute significantly to a business’ environmental footprint. This case study dives into how ANEO Retail and Danfoss, leaders in energy services and refrigeration technology, achieved sustainability and cost-savings for Coop Norge, a supermarket chain operating in Norway.
ANEO Retail Refrigeration-as-a-Service (RaaS) offer enabled 9 stores to access state-of-the-art, energy-efficient cooling systems from Danfoss without the burden of upfront investment. Under the RaaS model, the Swedish company assumes full responsibility for equipment installation, maintenance, and ongoing optimisation. Coop, in turn, benefits from a fixed-cost service agreement, ensuring predictable operational expenses. More importantly, the new refrigeration systems delivered significant energy savings (6 million kWh of energy saved per year), translating into an enhanced environmental impact and a healthier bottom line.
The full case study can be accessed here.
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#4: Bringing Sustainable Lighting and Circular Economy Together with ETAP
Access to quality and reliable lighting is key, yet often overlooked, in the education world. Traditional lighting solutions can be energy-intensive and pose disposal issues, either because they contain mercury or are not recyclable. This case study explores how ETAP, a leading lighting solutions provider, championed a groundbreaking approach that combines sustainable lighting with a circular economy model for the benefit of the Sint Paulus school in Belgium.
ETAP services, beyond offering state-of-the-art LED lighting solutions designed for optimal energy efficiency and long-lasting performance, focus on the entire lifecycle of the equipment via a unique Circular Lighting-as-a-Service contract.
Since the implementation of C-LaaS on the campus, the new luminaires enabled an energy consumption decrease of more than 70 percent while enhancing the light level. The chosen lighting solution provides a longer service life and greater comfort for both teachers and students. Finally, thanks to the C-LaaS agreement, the school is no longer responsible for maintenance. Yearly inspections carried out by ETAP spare the school from investing time or energy in maintaining the performance of the lighting system.
The full case study can be accessed here.
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#5: A Brighter Future: How Light-as-a-Service is Revolutionising Retail
In the retail industry, optimal lighting plays an important role in enhancing the in-store experience and presenting products effectively. Retailers are increasingly focused on energy-saving measures due to rising and unpredictable energy costs, sustainability demands from customers and employees, and regulatory requirements for energy efficiency. These factors, combined with the need to reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction, drive the adoption of innovative solutions.
Signify’s Light-as-a-Service (LaaS) offer allows one to purchase light rather than investing in the lighting equipment. After introducing the model at Schiphol Airport, LaaS was implemented at Maxeda DIY Group brands‘ stores, equipping over a hundred facilities with surfaces up to 8000m2 with the latest LED technologies. Installations are delivering high-quality light, substantial energy savings, operational efficiency, and improved business outcomes. The company also offers the possibility for clients to opt for Circular Lighting options, and use equipment designed for reuse and recycling.
To finance such performant and cleaner systems the provider collaborates with financiers to provide solutions such as asset-based financing and structured finance for large projects.
The full case study can be accessed here.
BASE is pursuing its efforts to mainstream the model and accelerate the energy transition via the Servitisation for Energy Transition (SET) Alliance, bringing together a diversity of stakeholders pioneering EaaS around the world, and poised to raise awareness, share knowledge, develop tools and materials to ease implementation, build capacity to deploy and adopt solutions, and conduct projects to scale impact. To stay updated, you can follow the SET Alliance on Linkedin.
