In 2019, we financed the conversion of six public buildings in the Italian municipality of Certosa di Pavia into nearly-zero energy buildings (“nZEB”) as part of an initial transaction with the Italian energy service company Samso.
Professional investors can request the case-study report here:
The charming town of Certosa di Pavia is located in the Lombardy region in Italy, just 30km south of Milan. Home to a large monastery and approximately 6,000 inhabitants, it has a vibrant communal life concentrated around a host of publicly owned buildings that provide a space for people to meet, work, and receive public services. However, many of the town’s public buildings had been built in the 1980s and suffered from an unsatisfactory energy performance.
Our partner firm SAMSO, which provides corporates and public-sector entities with design, procurement, installation, and management of energy-saving infrastructure, was mandated to carry out the conversion of six public buildings into nZEB. Per definition of the European Commission, nZEBs have a high energy performance and very low energy needs, which are covered largely by onsite and nearby renewable energy sources. The building portfolio included the city hall, the secretariat and education directorate, two nursery schools, one primary school, and the local ambulatory clinic.
One of the major interventions involved the installation of a thermal facade at the city hall. The installed facade insulates the indoor environment while collecting thermal energy from the outside to be gradually released inside the building. The solution is based on the principle of thermal activation of the building mass through heating and cooling of the opaque surfaces of the envelope. To power the system, Samso installed photovoltaic panels and solar collectors on the rooftop of the city hall building.
The primary school and the town clinic were fully insulated through a comprehensive building envelope. In addition, Samso installed comprehensive valve systems to control the radiators and replaced the boilers. All other buildings were coated with non-intrusive thermal insulation material to avoid changes to the structural configuration of the buildings.
The project exhibited some of the typical complexities of implementing energetic building refurbishments. Samso had to ensure that the implemented measures were in line with the existing architectural setting of the city and had to minimise any impediments to the day-to-day activities conducted in these public buildings.
The implemented energy efficiency measures have not only reduced energy consumption and consequently costs but have also increased the comfort and wellbeing of the people active in and around these buildings – school children, teachers, municipal employees, and health-care recipients and givers.
In 2023, the success of the project was further affirmed when the municipality of Certosa di Pavia won an award for its energy-saving efforts at the Italian National Ambassadors awards where municipalities and businesses that are most attentive to the wellbeing of their communities are honoured – a testament to the high quality of Samso’s work and to the broader positive social impact of our financing.
The project with the municipality of Certosa di Pavia was just one project in a portfolio of 15 projects that we financed as part of our initial transaction with Samso in 2019. Since then, the partnership has flourished. Based on a framework agreement that stipulates pre-agreed terms and conditions for the financing of additional projects, we have since signed three further transactions and to date have financed 40 underlying projects.
Interested in learning more about how we manage to invest at scale in these fragmented and consequently less contested project segments? Professional investors can request a copy of the full case study at the link above.
*Estimated energy and cost savings: Before based on 2017 numbers (pre-intervention), and After based on post-intervention estimate.
