Latest Development of Energy Service Companies across Europe - A European ESCO Update

The present report is an update of the "Energy Service Companies in Europe ; Status Report 2005";, which was published by the European Commission DG Joint Research Center in 2005. The European ESCO Status Report gave an overview of the ESCO concept and key definitions, the development of the energy service companies market across Europe, and a concise synopsis of the state-of-the-art in the European Union Member States and the Candidate Countries in 2004. The aim of the present report is to update and expand the scope of the Status Report 2005, and in particular to investigate the specific situation in every country in more detail. To this end, the authors sketch the current status of national markets, and identify changes that have occurred during recent years, and especially since 2004. In addition, the reasons behind the changes are investigated. Specific barriers are identified and potential interventions to increase energy efficiency investments and to exploit energy saving potentials through ESCOs across Europe are discussed. The primary scope of the report is the enlarged European Union (EU-27), however special attention has been given to examining the ESCO markets in countries that have usually been ignored