CapX Partners launched its online Energy Conservation and Performance (E-CAP) Platform, a new tool to help building owners, energy saving companies, contractors and engineers secure financing for their energy savings projects. The E-CAP Platform will incorporate energy insurer Energi’s expertise in energy efficiency into the online underwriting process, helping to securitize energy savings and protect project guarantees.
At first, E-CAP will enable qualified energy efficiency providers to identify projects, as well as bid for them on the Honest Buildings network. The Platform will provide development memorandums, credit applications and project implementation plans to facilitate the development process. Then it offers users turnkey performance insurance and financing options.
Although insurance products such as those offered by Energi aren’t typically purchased by investors, obtaining insurance can alter the risk-return profile of an alternative energy investment enough to encourage an otherwise-unwilling investor, says CapX Partners.
US energy service companies have contributed significantly to the rise of energy efficiency over the past several decades, with Navigant estimating the US ESCO market at $4.9 billion in 2013. Notwithstanding, industry experts assert that inertia is the key impediment from greatly expanding this market. CapX Partners says its platform increases capacity (financing and rated performance guarantees) while also providing cost benefit and peer building analyses to building owners.