Building energy efficiency investment opportunities in the spanish basque country: the City of Sestao joins the eeef technical assistance programme

The City of Sestao will participate in the Technical Assistance (TA) programme, thus expanding activities of the Fund's Facility in the autonomous community of the Basque Country in Spain.

The City of Sestao is a town and municipality, part of the Greater Bilbao's metropolitan area. It is located in the province of Biscay, northern Spain, on the West bank of the estuary of the Nervión River, which leads to the Cantabrian Sea, delimiting the municipalities of Barakaldo, Portugalete, and Trapagaran. It has a population of around 27 342 inhabitants.

On 06 April 2022, the eeef and the City of Sestao signed a TA Agreement to develop the SESMART project "Sestao Energy Smart Management: Active-Resilient- Transformative." The objective of this TA is to enhance energy efficiency and create energy communities in the city by (i) providing integral upgrades in 4 municipal sites, (ii) modernizing street lighting using LED technology, (iii) developing energy communities with solar PV systems, (iv) an e-mobility program with the acquisition of 8 electric vehicles and charging stations, and (v) a digital platform. The City of Sestao seeks to prepare and implement this ambitious investment program to meet its carbon reduction goals and local strategic objectives in the field of energy efficiency.

According to a preliminary assessment, the total investment needed to implement the sustainable energy investment programme is circa EUR 13.7m. This will facilitate the City of Sestao to reach the required renovation and energy levels to contribute to the local and national targets. The TA services, provided by experienced consultants, will support the efforts of the Administration's employees to prepare the investment project. Supported services include the preparation of energy audits for the public street lighting and 4 municipal facilities (comprised of 5 buildings), a feasibility study for solar PV installations on 8 buildings/structures, completion of technical studies and validation of an electric vehicle program and a digital platform, evaluation of the economic viability of the investment, structuring of the tender documents to align with the PPP / ESCO model, external advisors (recommendations on the institutional set up of a PIU in the Administration) and legal analysis.

In the context of the TA Facility - funded by eeef in collaboration with the European Investment Bank ("EIB") – European Local Energy Assistance ('ELENA') TA Facility under the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Union - the eeef is welcoming other European public authorities to join the eeef TA Facility, as it is available for further applications. Please visit: http://www.eeef.eu/eeef-ta-facility.html

The European Energy Efficiency Fund (eeef) S.A., SICAV-SIF is a "société d'investissement à capital variable" governed by Luxembourg law and initiated by the European Commission in cooperation with the European Investment Bank. eeef increased the initial capitalisation provided by the European Commission with contributions from the sponsors European Investment Bank, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Deutsche Bundestiftung Umwelt as well as from its investment manager DWS Group. eeef is an innovative public-private partnership dedicated to mitigate climate change through energy efficiency measures and the use of renewable energy in the Member States of the European Union.