The EBENTO project has successfully concluded its work on performance-based business models, marking a significant step forward in developing innovative strategies for residential building renovations using Energy Performance Contracts (EnPCs). This initiative, led by Joanneum Research in collaboration with IEECP, IRI UL, and ETRA, aimed to address major adoption barriers in the residential sector, such as long payback times and extended contract durations.

To tackle these challenges, the EBENTO team integrated demand response (DR) services into the EnPC framework, enabling shorter payback periods and reduced contract durations. DR activities can be categorized into implicit and explicit DR. This approach not only shifts energy consumption to periods when electricity prices are lower (implicit DR) but also generates additional revenue through participation in energy markets (explicit DR). By combining these strategies, energy costs are further reduced, as demonstrated by the figure below, which illustrates energy savings and cost comparisons in EnPCs that include both types of DR.

The innovative business models developed by EBENTO were presented at the Sustainable Places 2024 conference in September and will soon be detailed in a forthcoming publication. Building on these achievements, the project’s economic impact assessment will estimate potential savings for its demonstration projects, showcasing the real-world benefits of incorporating DR into energy performance contracts.

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