GreenFlex Financing the transition White certificates

Make the most of your energy efficiency operations with the White Certificates (ESC)

GreenFlex, a subsidiary of the TotalEnergies Group, has been working for over 14 years on entire projects, from identifying energy sources to paying the energy bonus.

A favourable regulatory framework

France is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, and to ensuring that the various sectors of activity (industry, transport, real estate, agriculture, energy production) drastically reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or even become carbon neutral.

To support this reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the government is introducing a number of incentives for organisations, including the White certificate scheme.

The White certificate was created in 2006 under the POPE law, which sets out the guidelines for French energy policy. This financial aid scheme requires energy suppliers, also known as “obligated parties”, to promote energy efficiency among consumers, whether they are private individuals, professionals, or local authorities.

On 1 January 2022, the scheme entered its 5th mandatory period, lasting 4 years until 31 December 2025.

The various actions eligible for bonuses are designed to improve energy performance and therefore reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to energy consumption.

GreenFlex: White certificate experts at your service

All energy consumers can benefit from White certificates.

  • You don’t know how much energy you could save? We will carry out an inventory of your site and equipment to identify your potential savings and estimate the amount of the incentive.
  • Do you want to invest in energy-saving work but don’t know how to finance it? We can help you from the moment you order the work through to payment of the White certificate premium.
  • Would you like to find a trusted player who can guarantee you financing for the duration of the work? We offer attractive incentives, delivered by the TotalEnergies Group, a key player in this field.

 

Companies: how to benefit from White certificate bonuses

The number of White certificates is evaluated in kWh cumac, an abbreviation of cumulated and discounted, to correspond to the cumulative annual energy savings over the entire life cycle of the action or equipment.

Premiums are calculated based on a volume of certificates in kWhc saved according to standardised operation sheets and a price per kWhc in euros determined by the market and the energy supplier.

GreenFlex has set up a simple process to help you add value to your energy-saving operations, from technical recommendations to payment of the White certificate premium:

 

Schéma du processus CEE chez GreenFlex

What project and what actions?

Various standardised energy-saving operations are formalised in the form of fact sheets listing all the actions, the eligibility criteria (surface area, fixed amount of energy savings) and the associated volume of White certificate.

These operations are listed by the beneficiary’s sector of activity and then by type of operation: equipment, service, heating, utilities, envelope, lighting, etc.

All these operations can be found on the Government website.

Examples of actions that generate significant energy savings and allow the investment to be covered by the White certificate scheme:

Vue aérienne d'une usine en bord de fleuve

Industry:

  • Recovery of waste heat from a refrigeration unit (IND-UT-117), a cooling tower (IND-BA-112), an air compressor (IND-UT-103) or an industrial furnace (IND-UT-118).
  • Single point insulation (IND-UT-121)
  • Control of motor-regulated systems (IND-UT-136) or floating HP/BP chillers (IND-UT-116/IND-UT-115)
  • Boiler room optimisation using a micro-modulating burner (IND-UT-105), an economiser (IND-UT-104), a condenser (IND-UT-130), and/or an osmosis unit (IND-UT-125) on an industrial boiler.
  • Improving energy performance with all-electric or hybrid injection presses (IND-UT-129)
  • Destratification or air circulation (IND-BA-110)
vue aérienne d'un bâtiment entouré d'un parking et de routes

Building:

  • Insulation of a hydraulic heating and DHW network (BAT-TH-146), singular points in a network (BAT-TH-155), attics, roofs (BAT-EN-101) or a floor (BAT-EN-103).
  • Floating HP/BP chiller control (BAT-TH-134 and BAT-TH-145)
  • Control via a Building Management System (BMS) or a Centralised Technical Management System (CTMS) for heating and DHW (BAT-TH-116)
  • Connecting a building to a heating network (BAT-TH-127)
  • Destratification or air circulation (BAT-TH-142)

Agriculture

  • Recovery of waste heat from an industrial process to heat a greenhouse or livestock building (AGRI-TH-116)
  • Optimised heating using a double heating tube for greenhouses (AGRI-TH-118), a double heat shield (AGRI-EQ-102) or a thermodynamic dehumidifier for greenhouses (AGRI-TH-117).

Collective residential:

  • Heating for collective residential and tertiary buildings
  • Renovation for collective residential buildings

Specific files: what are they?

If the energy-efficiency project you are planning does not correspond to the list of standardised projects, it is possible to compile a specific file.

This applies in particular to sites subject to the NAP, also known as ETS sites (European Union Emissions Trading Scheme). After carrying out a study and a measurement campaign to demonstrate the energy savings achieved, these sites can also benefit from White certificate premiums for implementing their energy performance projects.

 

The financial assumptions to be taken into account when calculating the TRB are set out in the regulations:

  • Average of the last 36 invoices for energy prices
    Price set by the government for CO2. In 2024, the price per tonne of CO2 under the specific CEE scheme is €90.02/tCO2 and increases each year to encourage projects to be more ambitious from year to year.

 

What about financing the remaining costs of a project?

Thanks to our financing experts, GreenFlex can help you identify and obtain subsidies such as France 2030 or White certificate premiums that are relevant to your project and finance the remainder by combining different third-party financing solutions such as leasing.

The applications can be very varied, depending on the sector of activity: heat recovery, compressed air, refrigerated lines, HVAC, BMS, etc.

Thanks to our technical and financial expertise, we can identify your potential energy savings and the energy-intensive equipment that could be better optimised and offer you financing solutions tailored to the lifespan of the equipment or its use.

By combining financing solutions, you can:

  • Obtain a cash injection or reduce the outstanding balance without having to draw on cash, while benefiting from the flexibility and scalability of leasing as part of a solution combining White certificate and leasing.
  • Enhance the value of your White certificate premiums and obtain a commitment from GreenFlex on energy savings after the operation as part of a solution combining White certificate and an Energy Performance Contract (EPC).
  • Benefit from a technical and financial turnkey solution with no cash outflow and a technical and energy commitment as part of a solution combining a turnkey contract, White certificate, CPE and leasing or third-party financing.

Our solutions are tailored to your project and your CAPEX/OPEX requirements, deconsolidation, and cash flow preservation.