2023-07-18 12:55:00
18/07/2023
Promotes research and innovation, the renovation of facilities and the reduction of consumption and light pollution
The aid, 10-year reimbursable loans, without interest or guarantee, can reach 100% of the investment and will be granted through a competitive bidding process.
The energy savings will exceed 60% and the amortization period is around seven years under normal electricity price conditions.
The Council of Ministers, at the request of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), has authorized the granting of aid for an amount of 100 million euros for unique municipal outdoor lighting renovation projects. The aid, reimbursable 10-year loans, without interest or guarantee requirements, will be granted with competitive bidding procedures and will allow energy savings of more than 60% thanks to energy efficient designs. The repayment term is about seven years under normal electricity price conditions.
The aid line, whose regulatory bases can be consulted here, is financed with resources from the National Energy Efficiency Fund and is managed by the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), an entity attached to MITECO. It is included in the measures of the More Energy Security Plan (Plan +SE) and is part of the energy efficiency dimension for the public sector of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC).
ADJUST THE LIGHTING LEVELS
The first call for the program is expected to be launched between the months of September and October. It will help to modernize the lights, lamps and regulation equipment, allowing their variation throughout the night depending on the needs of the citizens and adapting the lighting levels, which are excessive in many streets, to the real needs of this public service.
Thanks to this aid programme, it will also contribute to the promotion, research and technical innovation in the field of outdoor lighting, obtaining quantitative and qualitative information. Therefore, these unique projects will contribute to improving, researching and analyzing the various technological options that exist in the field of outdoor lighting.
The selection of the projects will be carried out through a competitive bidding procedure, prioritizing those proposals that integrate the most innovative and efficient solutions. The beneficiaries will be any local entity, including city councils, provincial councils or equivalent local entities, as well as associations or groups of Spanish municipalities and public entities that manage public municipal outdoor lighting services.
REMOTE MANAGEMENT AND AUTOMATION
Eligible actions must be aimed at reducing the light output of the facilities, replacing the current equipment with higher-performance luminaires, with higher-efficiency light sources and/or with electronic regulation and control equipment, and that allow light pollution to be reduced. of the environment with respect to the replaced lighting.
With an indicative and non-limiting nature, the following will be eligible actions:
· Reform of municipal outdoor lighting installations for more efficient technologies and including remote management.
· The renovated facilities may serve as physical and technological support for the improvement or implementation of quality internet-connected networks (for example, via Wi-Fi), as long as energy savings are achieved, such as through the sensorization of areas in projects of smart cities.
· Automation of existing outdoor lighting networks, traffic lights and other signaling lines.
Additionally, and as long as they are part of a project in which the energy efficiency of lighting is improved, technical assistance related to light pollution studies and action plans for its reduction will also be eligible actions.
This call, which will be managed centrally at IDAE, will grant aid in the form of interest-free, reimbursable loans and may cover 100% of the eligible investment. To comply with the incentive nature of the aid, only applications for projects whose execution has not started prior to the presentation of said instances will be accepted.
MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC BILL
The provision of the outdoor lighting service is one of the most expensive public services for municipalities, the bill for which has increased notably with the impact of the war in Ukraine, which has highlighted the risks of high foreign energy dependence and fossil fuels.
Currently, the outdoor lighting in Spanish municipalities consists of some 8.8 million light points (PL), with an average power of 156 W/PL, which represents an estimated annual electricity consumption of 5,296 GWh/year, with a cost of 741 million euros per year. Around 6 of those 8.8 million PL have not yet been adapted to current regulations or to modern lighting technologies.
LED technology has represented a radical change both in this energy consumption and in its associated cost, by reducing the installed power by between 60 and 80% on average for the same lighting levels. For this reason, the replacement of light points in outdoor lighting and lighting of pedestrian, artistic or monumental spaces by LED technology is prioritized, together with the improvement of the reflective and directional quality of the luminaire and the implementation of flow regulation systems. lighting and the switching on and off, thus achieving its variation throughout the night depending on the needs of the citizens, reducing electricity consumption and minimizing light pollution. It is estimated that the savings derived from the application of new, more efficient technologies make it possible to recover the investment made within a period of six or seven years.
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