Why it works

Traditionally, Public Sector bodies would complete stand-alone procurements so contracts had to be purchased, consultants employed and contractors procured and once it was complete all the knowledge was lost. Then after construction the schemes typically started to underperform due to a lack of finance, contractual awareness and knowledge if things didn’t go as well as expected.

The Carbon and Energy Fund Ireland (CEFI) has been specifically created to fund, facilitate and project manage complex energy infrastructure upgrades within the Irish health economy and the wider Public Sector – to capture knowledge and to simplify the process so it can be repeated time and time again. The CEFI provides all the necessary parts, the process to ensure that it is compliant and expedient but most importantly it provides the knowledge required to make it work.

Contract

The CEFI has two contracts, they can be deemed as on or off balance sheet and via a lease or concession. The CEFI contract has been approved by by the HSE Leadership Team. It has been created over 20 years and is proven to work. The CEFI will provide an in house legal team and a 3rd Party Law firm to ensure that the Authority is protected and that it is fair for all parties.

Finance

The CEFI has typically up to €300m of capital available for projects via a panel of funders. It is endorsed by the Governments own Green Investment Bank and has sources of capital available from Banks and Pension Funds for terms from 7 to 30 years. The CEFI is estimated to provide c90% of this type of finance to the scheme.

Procurement

The CEFI is the largest framework of its type in the Ireland. It is OJEU compliant and full details can be found by clicking here >>. The CEFI do not procure any other services. It is constantly updating and improving its processes and it is fully devoted to the procurement of EPC’s on behalf of the Irish health economy and the wider Public Sector. The CEFI process is fully supported by the NHS Countess of Chester Hospital procurement team.

Performance Contract Management including Monitoring & Verification

Often overlooked by Members, the ongoing performance of the EPC is critical to achieving cash and carbon savings. The CEFI is there to protect the Members via its independent M&V system, quarterly, half yearly and year end reporting and reconciliations. The CEFI provides technical and legal support to the Members through the term of the contract to ensure that the contractors meet the savings requirements.

People

The glue that holds the processes together is the people, on a typical scheme the CEFI will have 7 to 9 people working to ensure that scheme is successful. These skills provided by the CEFI include technical, via our in house consultants, legal, finance, procurement, project management and M&V experts. Each scheme is overseen by a Director with significant experience in the Sector.

As previously stated the CEFI is a centre of knowledge and a collector of experience. The CEFI team has successfully delivered over 50 schemes in both the Public and Private Sectors and it is this knowledge and experience coupled with a robust and fit for purpose process that makes the CEFI work.

Investor Ready Certification

The CEFI are proud to be closely associated with the Environmental Defense Funds, Investor Confidence Project (ICP). As leaders in the energy efficiency industry, the CEFI fully support the projects objective of enabling a marketplace for building owners, project developers, utilities, public programs and investors to trade in standardized energy efficiency projects. ICP defines a clear road-map from retrofit opportunity to reliable Investor Ready Energy Efficiency™.

With a suite of Commercial and Multifamily Energy Performance Protocols in place, ICP reduces transaction costs by assembling existing standards and practices into a consistent and transparent process that promotes efficient markets by increasing confidence in energy efficiency as a demand-side resource. For further information about the ICP, please click here.

Who are the CEFI?

CEF Ireland (CEFI) was created in 2016 to deliver Energy Performance Contracts (EPCs) on behalf of the HSE’s NHSO, as part of its’ Intergovernmental Partnership with the NHS.

CEF Ireland (CEFI) is a subsidiary company of the Carbon and Energy Fund (CEF) – a special purpose vehicle allowing different parts of the Public Sector and NHS to work together. It employs an experienced team drawn from the NHS, National Services Scotland, National Procurement, NHS Strategic Buying Solutions, Oxford AHSN and The Countess of Chester Hospital.

The route to working with the CEFI is to seek membership, which then makes all the support of the CEFI available to the New Member for the entire procurement, installation and savings monitoring period of the contract.

With a proven track record of more than 50 projects and in-depth experience of procurement, engineering, legal and finance, the CEFI is the organisation to successfully guides Public Sector clients through the complex processes involved.

Why you should use the CEFI?

  • CEFI has been created to support the HSE’s NHSO

  • Efficient and proven OJEU compliant procurement process

  • Access to a €300m+ fund of capital funding

  • The widest choice of ESCo contractors in Ireland

  • CEF provides all the specialist skills and resources

  • No up front fees

  • Approved by the HSE Leadership Team

  • A track record of 50 successful European projects to-date

CEFI Member Organisations