The City Council of Elche receives Technical Assistance to prepare an investment project in energy efficiency upgrades and renewable energy generation
Elche – The home of ‘El Palmeral’ (UNESCO’s World Heritage Site) is the 6th Spanish City to cooperate with eeef on the Technical Assistance to support project development activities to prepare investments in public lighting, renewable energy installations to generate heat and electricity for own use, public buildings upgrade and review feasibility of replacing the police diesel cars with hybrid vehicles.
The renovations are scheduled to start from the mid of 2014 onwards after completion of the feasibility studies to be undertaken within this Technical Assistance. Since infrastructure of the City is highly outdated, the Council expects CO2 savings to reach 9,743 tonnes and energy savings around 20,000 Mwh per annum. The upgraded street lighting infrastructure is a key component to contribute to the City’s cultural identity, as ‘El Palmeral’ should emerge in a new lighting concept to the City’s visitors.
The Council also intends to give a more prominent role to use of renewable resources in the public buildings, while replacing the currently used diesel boilers with biomass boilers, burning agricultural waste from the region. Using the advantages of the high solar radiation in the area, the City targets to install PV systems to produce electricity for own usage. The solar thermal installations are envisaged to cover at least 20% of the buildings demand for hot water and heating.
The European Energy Efficiency Fund S.A., SICAV-SIF is a “société d’investissement à capital variable” governed by Luxembourg law and was initiated by the European Commission in cooperation with the European Investment Bank. The initial capitalization provided by the European Commission was increased with contributions from the sponsors European Investment Bank, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti as well as the Investment manager Deutsche Bank.