The Investor Confidence Project (ICP), an EDF initiative designed to unlock investment in energy efficiency, is making progress toward completing a credentialing system that would provide third-party validation of an energy efficiency project. The latest development is the Project Developer Credential, the second of three in the ICP credentialing system.
ICP is accelerating the development of a global energy efficiency market by standardizing how projects are developed and energy savings are calculated. The ICP system includes a set of protocols for developing energy efficiency projects as well as a credentialing system.
The Project Developer Credential is given to those developers who are able to properly deploy the ICP protocols when undertaking an energy efficiency retrofit. This latest development is an important step forward for investors of all types, especially building owners, who can now select developers from a growing list of credentialed providers.
Already, ICP has signed up 11 developers who’ve met the basic requirements and been trained in the ICP protocols: Johnson Controls, Trane, Pepco Energy Services, SCI Energy, Performance Systems Development, TRC, Association for Energy Affordability, Environmental Building Strategies, Swinerton Builders, H.T. Lyons, and L&S Energy Services, Inc.
Those firms who have received the Project Developer Credential enjoy enhanced credibility, additional brand awareness, and preferred status with an increasing number of programs and investors who are partnering with ICP to increase deal flow.
Under the ICP credentialing system, credentialed project developers originate projects and proposals, credentialed software providers offer standard documentation, and credentialed quality assurance providers conduct a third-party review. Projects conforming to this process then receive the Investor Ready Energy Efficiency™ (IREE) certification.
The process is akin to audited financials, in which certified IREE projects provide investors and building owners with a new level of confidence in project engineering, performance, and returns.
Last year, ICP released the Software Provider Credential, which is standardizing the process of developing and documenting energy efficiency projects. To receive the ICP Software Provider Credential, software providers must enable facilitated access to all of the required documentation as well as support the ICP workflow for creating IREE projects.
In the coming months, the Investor Confidence Project plans to release the last of its three credentials, the Quality Assurance Credential, which will add the very important step of allowing third parties to verify projects conform to the ICP protocols.
We believe the release of this latest credential for project developers will expand the demand for energy efficiency projects since building owners will know they are dealing with highly trained developers. This credential, combined with the rollout of the IREE certification later this year, will create a robust, active market in energy efficiency across the country.
By Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant
Originally Published on February 9, 2014
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