Danijel Benčić (Rudan): We Save Water for Maistra, Valamar, Plava Laguna…

The company Rudan was founded in March 1994 by Graciano Rudan, who is still its sole owner today. Located in Žminj, it started as a smaller company providing various services in hospitality and catering related to the maintenance of catering equipment and infrastructure. In short, Rudan dealt with maintenance and various repairs. Over the years, significant water losses and opportunities for optimization, as well as considerable energy savings, have been observed in all these systems.

Rudan was a pioneer in this field, as evidenced by the fact that in 2022 it achieved a total annual revenue of €22.5 million. We spoke with the CEO Danijel Benčić about what water-saving work looks like and what the company is currently engaged in.

How do you save water for your clients?

– For years, we have maintained clients’ facilities and provided service. This allowed us to accurately assess the situation, study technological processes and systems. Our first major water-saving project began with a shipbuilding company. The idea at that time was to save water, but in a way that we invest our own capital, knowledge, human resources, and everything necessary to reduce and optimize water consumption to normal levels. We wanted to charge for this as part of sharing the savings.

This is quite measurable because water flows through closed systems, so everything can be easily measured with control and billing water meters, almost to the liter. It is always known what the starting point is and what the target value we want to achieve in agreement with the client is. Usually, it is the maximum that can be extracted, which depends on the processes and the complexity of the system’s infrastructure and the way that water is used. In any case, the goal is maximum savings, and then the financial difference is shared according to pre-agreed conditions.

How did you realize there was a market need for this?

– We offer what is described in the Western economy as so-called ESCO companies, that is, those that provide energy services. We charge for the benefits that are realized thanks to our services. We realized that this is excellent for clients because there is no investment in infrastructure – they receive a finished product.

If they do not receive it, the contract is not consumed, but this has never been the case with us. After the first project in shipbuilding, we moved on and achieved similar successes with a number of other clients, regardless of whether it is in tourism, manufacturing, or the service industry. Wherever there is water consumption in complex systems, we can contribute with our services.

Given that you are pioneers in water savings, how did you find people to do this work?

– There was no team of people in Croatia who knew all this. A lot was learned on the go, based on experience and mistakes that improved service quality. I would say that no one in large systems cared about water savings; it was taken for granted. You see that something can be better, but the system that should see this first simply does not perceive it that way.

This somewhat troubles and frustrates you when you cannot change something that is clear, but then you take the initiative and the risk. Graciano Rudan simply believed that things could be done better and smarter, and that is how this service was created. It started modestly, but each subsequent project brought something new, and people grew and learned together with the company.

Where is the most water consumed?

– When we talk about energy efficiency, the biggest consumers are facilities that operate almost continuously. A concrete example is hospitals, which operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Other public buildings, such as schools, are also a good example. Their consumption also falls into this category, but they consume less due to non-working weekends and holidays, so the potential for savings is somewhat smaller.

There are also huge systems that span large areas, such as camps or hotels, even factories, which are complex due to technology and the intricacies of the water supply system. They are also located over a large area, and everything is oversized, which increases the possibility of unwanted events, ruptures, which are not so easy to detect.

Who in tourism uses your services?

– I can highlight Valamar, Maistra, and Plava Laguna, but we have really many clients. We have excellent references and long-term quality collaborations with clients from whose systems we have also learned a lot.

Do you see an increase in demand for your services?

– It is clear that awareness in this regard has increased, especially in the last eight to ten years. It is almost impossible to read the newspapers, listen to the radio, or watch television without some news about the need for rational energy consumption, not to mention the last two to three years, when all this has become relevant due to the war in Ukraine and all the disruptions it has caused in the market. We must think about the green transition regardless of such events, but they have certainly accelerated that transition.

How exactly is water saved?

– We have developed equipment, or hardware, that serves to collect data that is transferred to our databases and then processed in software. The data is analyzed and interpreted so that correct conclusions can be drawn and the right direction for solving identified problems can be chosen. We are technologically evolving.

The beginnings of the business were analog, basic; we applied the simplest methods for problem-solving, and then we determined that it was more rational to create a plug-and-play solution, so we did that too. Today we have several software solutions that significantly facilitate our business operations.

How has Rudan grown over the years and how many employees does it have?

– We currently have 406 employees, but this number includes the entire tourism sector, which is also one of the key branches or sectors we deal with in the company, and is a result of the development and diversification of the business. We have continuously invested in hardware, software, training people, new hiring, and everything we earned from projects, we reinvested in development. We did this in energy, and then we decided to diversify, so the decision fell on tourism. We made that decision about ten years ago, and for the last seven years, we have been intensively engaged in it.

What exactly do you do in tourism?

– Compared to the big players, we are relatively small, but all our investments are equally valuable. I would mention them all; we see great potential in all of them. We started with maritime tourism, that is, accommodation capacities by the sea. These are hotels in Vodice, on Pag, and then we slightly shifted north, to the continent, and two years ago we bought Terme Jezerčica, thus enriching our portfolio.

For us, this was something new; I cannot say that we planned it specifically, but we fell in love with the potential that continental tourism and that facility have. In Terme Jezerčica, we invested approximately eight million euros in the last ten months, but we plan to invest much more because there is room for investment.

You once said that sustainability is an important goal in your business. Can you explain that?

– Back in 2013 and 2014, we made significant strides with comprehensive energy renovations in construction. Thus, the state, through its relevant ministry, designed a program for comprehensive energy renovations of public sector buildings due to the European Union directive that requires three percent of the total gross floor area of public sector buildings to be renovated each year.

It designed a model, the ‘ESCO savings model’ program. The EU’s idea was to activate the market of ESCO partners who would recognize the potential, invest capital, knowledge, and everything necessary to save, and charge for the work based on that. The benefit for the public sector is that there is no borrowing; the money comes from a private partner, with co-financing.

How did the state help in this?

– The state designed a model in which it justifies costs that contribute to the goals of energy savings and reducing the carbon footprint. It co-financed up to 40 percent of justified costs, while the rest came from private partners through various forms of financing. The first project was successfully completed, and the idea that buildings could be renovated according to the ESCO model became visible. People realized that it is indeed possible because someone whose employees are specialized for this takes care of it. This opened the door for the development of that segment of business that we are extremely proud of.