Energy Efficiency in the Management of the Integrated Water Service. A Case Study on the White Certificates Incentive System

Energy Efficiency Certificates (TEEs, also called White Certificates) are tradable certificates certifying the achievement of energy savings in energy end-use through energy efficiency improvement measures and projects. Electricity and natural gas distributors (obliged parties) can achieve their energy efficiency improvement targets either by implementing energy efficiency projects (and earning TEEs) or by purchasing TEEs from other parties. Voluntary actors can also participate in the mechanism, typically Energy Service Companies (ESCo) or companies that have appointed an energy management expert (EGE). Voluntary actors are those operators who freely choose to carry out energy end-use reduction measures. In this work, the TEE mechanism is applied to the Integrated Water Service to reduce energy consumption. To date, it is noted that few projects relating to the Integrated Water Service have been presented for the issue of TEEs. The proposed application aims at verifying the financial convenience in using the tool both for the service provider and for those external subjects (e.g., ESCo) that support the provider in carrying out an energy efficiency intervention. The results show the impact of TEEs on the financial sustainability of projects in the water sector.