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The European Union targets for 27% renewable energy share by 2030. At the same time, all new buildings should be nearly zero energy buildings from 2020 onwards. A major obstacle to these objectives is a combination of current economic stagnation and limited investors' confidence, which leads to low investment proportion. Despite many renewable energy technologies are already at a competitive level, the implementation rate in buildings is still low. In this paper, we focus on advances in efficient mechanisms to overcome non-technical barriers to the increase of renewable energy applications in buildings, such as Energy Performance Contracting (EPC). Tertiary sector holds a huge untapped potential for such applications, especially in Southern Europe. The Trust-EPC-South European initiative, implemented in six southern EU countries with a mix of beginner and intermediate energy service markets, aims at encouraging the financing of sustainable energy solutions in the tertiary sector, by creating a framework for standardization, assessment and benchmarking, thus improving trust and confidence in the financing parties. This paper presents three case studies in Greece, a Mediterranean family resort hotel, a resort and spa hotel and an office building. The installation of renewable energy measures, including photovoltaic systems, solar thermal systems and heat pumps, was examined and their EPC potential was rated, by using the described standardization and benchmarking methodology. Their economic savings range from 3 to 23% on yearly energy costs, at a discounted payback of 3–6 years, depending on the measure. A sensitivity analysis shows the impact of the variation of technical and economic parameters on the EPC projects feasibility. The standardization practice applied is expected to support the project actors in securing appropriate financing and eventually proceed with the renewable energy installations through the EPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper deals with the feasibility of RES-based systems for electricity supply in four different Greek Islands. Three specific typical loads were selected to be covered, where the grid connection was considered as optional. An optimization procedure in terms of energy efficiency and economical feasibility has also been applied, using the HOMER software for the energy part and a hand-made calculation procedure for the financial aspects. It is found that an off-grid project is not economically feasible and the grid connection is necessary only for the sale of excess electricity (not as a backup source). Finally, the relationship between environmental potential and produced energy is found to be linear, with almost constant behaviour for solar systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]