Integrating PV into Performance Contracts: Barriers and Trends

Abstract

Performance contracting, or contract energy management as it is called in the UK, refers to the practice of financing energy services based on the savings stream that those energy services are projected to generate. While performance contracts have not traditionally incorporated renewable energy systems (Goldman et al., 2002), a number of recent contracts have incorporated photovoltaic (PV) systems as part of an overall building energy service strategy. This paper presents the results of a survey of US PV performance contracts and descibes how, when examined in aggregate, PV performance contracts represent an important share of new US installations. This paper will also report on the diffusion of the PV performance contracting model from the US Federal government to other sectors.