Crown loans help public sector
EECA’s Crown Loan scheme provides funding for government departments and other publicly-funded bodies for investments in energy efficiency in the public sector.
The scheme offers full or partial funding of projects to achieve energy cost savings. Up to 100 per cent of the total cost of a project is available. To date, the scheme has advanced over $21 million for 220 projects, resulting in estimated cumulative cost savings of almost $55 million.
Dan Coffey, EECA Emprove Account Manager, says the Crown Loans scheme ensures that funding is not a barrier to cost-effective energy efficiency investments, particularly for projects that would otherwise be deferred or not able to proceed due to lack of funding.
Who’s eligible
Government departments, regional and local authorities, Crown entities such as Crown-owned companies, district health boards and public and integrated schools can apply for funds towards the cost of equipment, installation, design and project management fees and energy audit fees.
For example, funding is available to install or replace equipment to achieve energy savings, or if equipment is being replaced for other reasons, to cover the incremental cost of installing an energy efficient option.
The equipment or services purchased with the funds must be used to achieve operating cost savings, including energy. At least 50 per cent of the savings must be in direct energy costs, with the remainder in related areas such as maintenance.
“To ensure funding goes to the most worthwhile projects, EECA gives priority to projects based on the payback period of the energy savings,” explains Dan Coffey.
Unitec saves
Unitec New Zealand will soon be enjoying savings of around $60,000 a year thanks to a Crown loan from EECA. Unitec wanted to upgrade the building management system for the main complex of lecture theatres at its Mt Albert campus in Auckland, which was set to cost around $200,000. A Crown loan has provided the financial means to carry out the project.
Currently, due to lack of control systems, heating and air-conditioning are provided to the whole facility 10.5 hours per day regardless of occupancy usage. The upgrade will ensure these are only provided to occupied areas. Savings in energy consumption of over 600,000 kWh and CO2 emissions of 425 tonnes are predicted. The project payback period is expected to be just over three years, which meets the Crown energy efficiency loan scheme criteria.
Glenn Huggard, Unitec Director Facilities Management, says: “The improvement of the time control technology means we can determine and programme the heating and air-conditioning requirements of different areas of the complex to suit different times of the day.
“The new system will be linked and controlled through the electronic timetable system. We can also pre-programme and change it on a daily basis if required, so managing our energy consumption has been made much easier and more flexible to meet requirements. By matching operation to occupancy we can now achieve our operating costs through energy savings with an overall more efficient result.”
