The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has resolved the first call for the program of aid for unique projects for the renovation of municipal outdoor lighting facilities. Projects have been selected from 46 local entities, 3 of them in Navarre worth 2,883,000 euros. They are part of the 100 million euros charged to the National Energy Efficiency Fund (FNEE) with which this first call is endowed.
Specifically, 727,878 euros have been allocated to the City of Olite/Erriberri; 1,330,123 euros to the City of Ansoáin/Antsoain; and 825,000 euros to the City of Estella/Lizarra.
The program, managed by the Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE), an agency attached to MITECO, promotes and encourages the use and application of clean technologies, the diversification of primary energy sources, especially those of renewable origin, and disseminates measures for energy efficiency, as well as energy savings.
The projects chosen as “singular” have the common denominator of reducing the light output, by an average of 70%, by installing or renovating to LED technology in outdoor lighting, reaching a grade A or B, the regulation of lighting levels on public roads, pedestrian, artistic or monumental spaces. In addition, they comply with the regulated lighting, quality and visual comfort obligations, and have a remote management system to collect information on consumption, operation and programming, in real time, with the possibility of introducing corrections adapted to the uses and habits of citizens.
The new lighting will represent a significant transformation: the 46 projects benefited will reform approximately 107,600 light points by more efficient and environmentally friendly LED luminaires, minimising the impact on the night sky.
The program grants repayable loans that can cover 100% of the project budget and must be repaid within a maximum period of 10 years, including one in need, without interest or warranty requirement. The projects have been selected through a competitive competition procedure and will lead to energy savings of over 70% for all beneficiaries, with a repayment period of about seven years under normal electricity prices.
Included in the +SE Plan
Currently, the outdoor lighting of the Spanish municipalities is composed of about 8.8 million light points (PL), with an average power of 156 W/PL, which means an annual electricity consumption estimated at 5,296 GWh/year, with a cost for the municipalities of 741 million per year. Around six of those 8.8 million PL have not yet been adapted to modern lighting technologies.
Included among the measures of the More Energy Security Plan (Plan +SE), the savings in municipal lighting is framed in the energy efficiency dimension for the public sector of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) and promotes the total or partial renovation of the facilities, with the aim of contributing to the reduction of electricity consumption and the incorporation of new requirements of savings, energy efficiency and reduction of light pollution, through the inclusion of appropriate technical solutions to the new technologies of light emission, ICT, ecodesign requirements, control and maintenance or waste management, among others, that allow the development and verification of the quantitative form,