Investments to improve the uptake of energy
efficient lighting are among the most cost
effective and practical energy efficiency
measures and offer the EU one of the most
immediate and effective opportunities to
increase the security and reliability of
energy supply.
Pilot Cases financial
instruments
The proposed Directive on the final
energy efficiency and on energy services in
EU (Energy Service Directive ESD) aims
to stimulate the final energy efficiency,
the programmes and measures of energy
efficiency. The ESD will stimulate and
facilitate cost-effective investment in
energy efficiency of different sectors like
buildings and lighting.
The
public owners of street lighting systems
have the duty to keep the systems in order
to ensure road safety and to fulfil the
other functions of public lighting. The lack
of public budget has led to a stagnation of
investment in energy
efficiency of the public street lighting,
now there is a critical situation with
regard to high operating costs and large
refurbishment necessities without public
funding possibilities. There is a “drive”
towards cost reductions and outsourcing of
these services, and such
Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) models like
Contracting and especially Performance
Contracting can be successful tools to save
energy costs and guarantee quality standards
and maintenance of the street light systems.
The study gives an overview on the two basic
forms of Contracting with the focus on
Performance Contracting (EPC). It includes
short descriptions of examples projects with
different Contracting models of street
lighting in the study. Such examples can
support municipal decision makers to start
with such projects and will help to develop
the ESCO market in Europe.
In the total lighting sector there is a
large energy saving potential, the EU could
save 4.3 billion euro in running costs
through energy efficient lighting each year.
Alone in Germany in total 9,125 Mio.
lighting points illuminate the public
streets of the 14.000 municipalities. The
study summarized the results of market
analysis for some example countries.
Besides the existing saving potential the
development of the ESCO market including the
clearance of obstacles of frame conditions
and the providing of standards and model
contracts are crucial for the implementation
of Contracting solutions for street lighting
in the European countries. The study
describes the key issues, barriers and
obstacles in general for the main
Contracting models, the frame conditions in
countries with developed Contracting markets
and for most of the other European
countries.
Finally the needs of developing new
standards with implementation of new
technical specifications and norms, of more
efforts regarding the convincing of the
public owners of street lighting, transfer
of Know-how and dissemination of information
and experiences are summarized in the
conclusion. For such countries with low
level of ESCO market development and
experiences in this field it is suggested to
start with capacity building measures and
first easy pilot projects for street
lighting Contracting.