Client Success Story: Metrus Energy
Energy efficiency upgrade projects offer plenty of challenges in their own right. But how do you navigate those challenges when they’re presented at locations thousands of miles apart? How do you do the work quickly, in multiple tranches? And finally, how do you pull it off with zero capital expenditure?
“Under an ESA, Metrus pays for all upfront costs and is paid only when a project achieves actual savings. For the company, these projects are a monthly bill they pay—an operating expense which doesn’t require a capital expenditure. That’s the key to success.”
– Brian Deponte, Senior Vice President, Key Equipment Finance Clean Energy
Challenge
Our Fortune 100 technology customer—which is investing heavily in wind farms and solar rooftops and aims to power its global infrastructure with 100% renewable energy—knew it needed an innovative solution. That solution was to implement an energy efficiency-as-a-service (EEAS) initiative that would roll out new LED lighting and building management systems across their facilities nationwide.
Solution
To ensure success, the Fortune 100 customer sought out some of the foremost companies specializing in energy efficiency. They brought in Metrus Energy, which designed, financed and implemented a groundbreaking programmatic Efficiency Services Agreement (ESA) that allows the customer to blend the economics of different utility rates across regions to ensure that all sites are able to benefit from the efficiency upgrades. By combining sites where utility rates and operating conditions are more favorable with sites that have less favorable conditions, the projects are economically viable and provide project uniformity across sites.
“These three projects will reduce total electricity use for lighting at these sites by approximately 70%, thereby eliminating 39,917 tons of annual CO2.”
– Brian Deponte, Senior Vice President, Key Equipment Finance Clean Energy
SmartWatt, an energy optimization company that provides construction, engineering, installation, measurement and verification for an LED lighting retrofit, was also brought in as a partner on the project.
Key Equipment Finance Clean Energy is serving as Metrus’ financing partner. “A great deal of time was invested by the organization as a whole to better understand how these improvements work as well as the risks and rewards,” said Brian DePonte, senior vice president, Key Equipment Finance Clean Energy. “The result is an energy efficiency-as-a-service financing product that could benefit other energy solutions providers and consumers in the commercial and industrial space.”
Results
Key Equipment Finance has funded $21 million to implement three recent projects under this EAAS program. The work includes upgrading 32 sites that are located in 17 different states with high efficiency LED lights and building management systems. These three projects will reduce total electricity use for lighting at these sites by approximately 70%, thereby eliminating 39,917 tons of annual CO2.
“Under an ESA, Metrus pays for all upfront costs and is paid only when a project achieves actual savings,” DePonte said. “For the company, these projects are a monthly bill they pay—an operating expense which doesn’t require a capital expenditure. That’s the key to success.”
By working with Key Equipment Finance Clean Energy, Metrus Energy successfully collaborated to provide the company and its sites with consistent energy savings, which reduces its environmental footprint.
For more information:
To learn about the best energy efficiency-as-a-service financing options for your organization, talk to one of our experts. Contact Tom McFadden, Clean Energy Specialist, at 720-304-1044 or Thomas.McFadden@key.com.