South African Financier Gets US Partner under CCI

South African financier First Rand Bank Ltd. and US company Johnson Controls, Inc. has signed an agreement in South Africa under the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) marking the first energy performance contract in South Africa that will not follow the shared savings mechanism.

CCI’s Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program brings together many of the world’s largest cities, real estate firms, financial institutions, and energy service companies in an effort to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings across the municipal, institutional, commercial, private, educational, and public housing sectors. Under the agreement, Johnson Controls will perform energy efficient audits and retrofits in three buildings – one in Johannesburg and two in Randburg initially, with the potential to add more in the future.

Johnson Controls will review all of the bank’s major energy usage, equipment sizes and efficiencies, maintenance procedures, hours of operation, and current operating conditions. An analysis will be done to determine if sustainable offerings such as cogeneration and renewable energy sources are viable options.

"The PDA allows Johnson Controls to research existing equipment, products and processes and make recommendations to implement more efficient and affordable energy saving solutions," said Jose Fernandez, business area operations manager at Johnson Controls in South Africa. "With plans to use an established and proven procurement model known as performance contracting, FirstRand would be able to significantly save energy and reduce their utility costs and carbon footprint, while using those savings to repay the project capital investment over the term of the contract, without increasing the bank’s operating budget. In other words, funds that would normally pay for monthly utility expenses will be redirected to repay the capital investment on the project."