Three burgeoning needs: first, to optimise consumption at energy-hungry facilities such as health spas and hotels; second, to guarantee a return on energy efficiency investments within a short or, at least, sustainable timeframe; third, the need to work with partners capable of providing comprehensive, personalised ‘turnkey’ solutions from both a technological and financial feasibility viewpoint while making the most of incentive opportunities at regional national and European level. A high-level response to these needs now comes from Protesa, the Sacmi Group company that, through the REM (Renewable Energy Management) division, designs, builds and manages renewable energy systems and implements integrated energy efficiency projects.
Thanks to close teamwork with Profin and Energifera – professionals, respectively, in standard/subsidised financing and the design and production of modular co-generators for enhanced energy efficiency – Protesa has put together a model, within the scope of the activities developed for Co.Ter (Consorzio Terme Emilia-Romagna), that takes the form of six energy efficiency-enhancing projects applicable to spa facilities across the region.
This model will be presented next 6th May at Castel San Pietro Terme (9.30 a.m., le Fonti Golf Club), as part of the convention “Energy efficiency in the health spa, hotel and tourist industry”; the event will be attended by, among others, regional councillor for tourism Andrea Corsini – flanked by Emilia-Romagna’s head of Production, Business and Tourism, Morena Diazzi – the president of Co.Ter Lino Gilioli and representatives from the three firms (Protesa, Profin and Energifera) that put together the “package”. Welcoming them will be the “local hosts”, from the Mayor of Castel San Pietro Fausto Tinti to the head of the local spa facility (where the system has just been installed and inaugurated), Attilio Menconi Orsini, manager and president of the Società Terme of Castel San Pietro.
The Protesa-Profin-Energifera project is a highly interesting and carefully planned one that begins with detailed mapping of consumption and existing systems and ends with the installation of new solutions (via energy auditing and assessment of efficiency improvement potential): between the two lies an intermediate economic-financial feasibility analysis (investment with own resources, leasing-bank loan requirements etc.) and an analysis of public incentive opportunities that can, on one hand, allow even faster returns on investment and, on the other, ensure better project management from a financial standpoint. “The proposal”, explains Mauro Ferri, President of Protesa, “is particularly aimed at spa facilities and large hotels that have huge energy requirements and high energy consumption. In these cases, an energy efficiency-enhancing plan allows for fast amortization of invested capital because the achieved energy savings outweigh the initial investment outlay, thus freeing up economic resources”.
The following, in short, are the terms of a ‘benchmark’ investment, described by Ferri and illustrated in detail in the joint report that Protesa, Profin and Energifera will present at the Castel San Pietro convention scheduled for 6th May: “Against an investment of 218,300 euro, 100% funded and with VAT financed as a general expenditure for a duration of 7 years with 80% public guarantee on the Fondo Centrale di Garanzia (as per Italian Law 662/96)”, points out the President of Protesa, “the business would pay a general interest rate on the loan, at current Euribor levels, of no more than 4.3%”. This means, on an annual basis, “a net saving for the business of 46,500 euro against a loan instalment of 36,400 euro. Then there is the reduced environmental impact”, concludes Ferri, quantifiable in 39.3 TOE (tons of oil equivalent) saved every year, roughly equal to 90.8 tons les CO2 introduced into the atmosphere”.
The outcome is the implementation of a true “environmental control system” that also allows remote monitoring of energy consumption, its item-by-item cost analysis, Operations & Maintenance of the completed investment, accurate reports on building energy efficiency and mapping of further projects on the basis of the user’s specific energy requirement patterns, thus providing plenty of scope for long-lasting, mutually rewarding relations.
The three companies have an extensive portfolio of projects completed not just in Castel San Pietro but also in major Italian and international spa facilities; moreover, recent changes in legislation (such as the government’s “competitiveness” decree) make such investments even more economical that’s to tax credits in the order of 15%.
On 6th May the convention will end, in the afternoon, with a guided tour of the already-operational plant at Castel san Pietro’s renowned spa facility.
Program and registration form (in Italian)