Energy As A Service Moves Into The Mainstream

Redaptive, a provider of Energy as a Service (EaaS) solutions, has closed approximately $216 million in financing backed by long-term performance contracts, in the first securitization of its kind in the energy services sector. Unlike traditional vendor financing, this transaction packages predictable future cash flows from performance-based energy and decarbonization contracts into an asset that can be sold to institutional investors. In practice, Redaptive installs and manages energy efficiency, renewable energy, battery storage and related upgrades for corporate customers with no upfront cost, with clients paying over time based on verified energy savings. By securitizing these payments, Redaptive claims to be able to unlock access to deeper capital markets at lower cost, enabling faster and larger deployments of EaaS projects.

This development marks a meaningful inflection point for the corporate energy services market. Historically, energy efficiency and performance contracting have struggled to tap institutional capital because projects are highly bespoke and savings streams fragmented. Treating long-term performance contracts as financeable assets demonstrates that EaaS models are now maturing into scalable and – importantly – credible investment categories.

For corporate energy and sustainability leaders, the implications are significant. Verdantix research consistently shows that energy and decarbonization initiatives increasingly need to prove commercial value to CFOs and finance teams. Decision-makers are looking beyond abstract net zero goals towards solutions with clear returns, budget certainty and risk mitigation (see Verdantix Market Insight: What Actually Happens When Firms Miss Net Zero Targets). EaaS models respond to this by structuring payments around verified energy and cost savings, aligning vendor incentives with project performance and transferring much of the operational risk away from the corporate buyer. The addition of securitized financing further strengthens this dynamic, lowering the cost of capital and enabling providers to scale projects across large, multi-site portfolios. Ultimately, this makes it easier for firms to implement energy efficiency and decarbonization programmes, while ensuring that the investment makes financial sense.

With cheaper and broader access to capital, EaaS vendors can scale projects that might otherwise be deferred due to internal budget constraints. For energy managers, this reduces friction with procurement and finance teams that traditionally hesitate to commit CAPEX to long-dated infrastructure improvements.

Redaptive’s financing underscores a shift in how corporate decarbonization is funded. Rather than relying on limited internal capital or siloed ‘green’ budgets, energy investments are increasingly structured to appeal to mainstream capital markets and evaluated on financial grounds first, with sustainability outcomes reinforcing the overall investment case. This marks a shift away from treating decarbonization as a discretionary or values-led spend, towards an evaluation of energy projects on commercial viability first, with sustainability outcomes enhancing, rather than serving as a substitute for the financial case.