Energy Services Agreements
The Energy Services Agreement or ESA is a relatively new and rather exciting financial vehicle for funding energy efficiency. Much like a solar power purchase agreement (PPA), in an ESA the equipment is installed and owned and operated by the vendor who sells the saved power to the customer.
ESAs are a new financial vehicle, sometimes called “Energy Savings Agreements.” I’ve also now seen the term “Efficiency Services Agreements.” In all cases, the ESA is a contract between a property owner and a company that develops, arranges, and funds energy efficiency retrofits. ESAs offer a clearly defined structure for outside capital to invest in the energy savings potential of a building. The ESA provider is paid for the energy savings of a retrofit project.